More than 100 representatives from 16 countries and  11 international organizations are now better informed on how to police the international trade in endangered species.

They took part in a seminar on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) which has ended in Guangzhou City in China's southern Guangdong Province.

CITES is an international intergovernmental agreement that aims to ensure that trading in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.

"A goal of the seminar is to protect endangered species and control international trade volume, and another is to make effective international trading rules, because a fundamental principle of the convention is that trade of wild fauna and flora is good for wild fauna and flora protection and it fully recognizes governments and people are the best protectors of these endangered species," said Wu Zhongze, an official of China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration.

CITES regulates international trade in over 36,000 species of wild fauna and flora, including their products and derivatives, of which three percent are untradeable to ensure their survival in the wild with benefits for the livelihoods of local people and the global environment. 

China's continued efforts in such aspects have once again impressed attendees this year. The Chinese government has been taking a leading role in banning global ivory trade since 2015 while developed countries like the US, the EU, the UK, and Japan are backing out. The ban took effect from January 1 and has resulted in crashing ivory prices and decreasing ivory demand. 

"I've been very fortunate again to be witnessing over the years this tremendous effort by China and to welcome that as maybe a model throughout the world to achieve at the same time elimination of poverty as well as conservation of wild species," said Eugene Lapointe, former CITES secretary-general.

The seminar ran from Nov 6-8 in Guangzhou's Panyu District.