Convention For The Conservation And Management Of The Vicuna
Source: http://sedac.ciesin.org/entri/texts/vicuna.1979.html, downloaded 20050127
The Governments of the Republics of Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru, with the objective of continuing to promote the conservation and management of the vicuna, and taking into account the experience acquired through the implementation of the Convention for the Conservation of the Vicuna, signed at La Paz on August 16th, 1969, have decided that it is necessary to draft a new Convention for the Conservation and Management of the Vicuna, in the following terms:
Article 1
The Signatory Governments agree that conservation of the vicuna provides an economic production alternative for the benefit of the Andean population and commit themselves to its gradual use under strict State control, applying such technical methods for the management of wildlife as the competent official authorities may determine.
Article 2
The Signatory Governments prohibit the hunting and illegal trade of the vicuna, its products and derivatives within the territory of their respective countries.
Article 3
The Signatory Governments prohibit internal and external trade of the vicuna, its products in their natural state and those manufactured therefrom up to December 31st, 1989. In case any of the Parties hereto reaches a vicuna population level, which in terms of management would allow the production of meat, viscera and bones, as well as the processing of skins and wool into cloth, it may proceed to their trade under strict State control. Trade in processed skins and in cloth may be carried out using marks and wefts which are internationally recognizable, registered and/or patented, after coordination with the Parties through the Technical-Administrative Commission of the present Convention and in coordination with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Washington, 1973).
Article 4
The Signatory Governments prohibit the export of fertile vicunas, semen or other reproductive material, with the exception of those destined to one of the member countries for the purpose of research and/or repopulation.
Article 5
The Signatory Governments undertake to maintain and develop national parks and reserves and other protected areas containing vicuna populations, and to extend the areas of repopulation managed as wildland areas, as a matter of priority and always under State control.
Article 6
The Signatory Governments agree to continue comprehensive research on the vicuna, including bioecological, socio-economic and other aspects. Likewise, they commit themselves to an active interchange of information through the Multinational Center for Documentation with headquarters in the Republic of Bolivia.
Article 7
The Signatory Governments agree to provide to each other technical assistance for management and repopulation of the vicuna, including the training of personnel, as well as dissemination and extension activities aimed at the conservation and management of the species.
Article 8
In order to evaluate the implementation of the Convention, to keep the Parties informed and to recommend solutions for problems resulting from its application, the Signatory Governments agree to create the Technical-Administrative Commission of this Convention composed of representatives of each of the countries. The Commission shall meet annually and its Statutes shall be approved at its first meeting.
Article 9
With a view to facilitating the application and interpretation of the present Convention, the Parties agree to define the following terms:
Conservation: Action aimed at management and use of the vicuna.
Management: The application of methods to increase the vicuna population until the grazing capacity of a specific region, zone or area has been reached, and thereafter to maintain a balance between those two factors, employing technically accepted methods, such as the translocation and/or culling of vicunas.
Use:The utilization of vicuna wool through shearing or from slaughtered animals, as well as the meat, skin, viscera and other derivatives. This term also comprises the indirect utilization of the vicuna for tourism, scientific and cultural purposes.
Culling:Slaughter of vicunas through appropriate methods, including the slaughter with firearms of sick animals, older specimens, unpaired males and, in justifiable cases, of family groups.
Poaching: The elimination, slaughtering or capture of vicunas without control or authorization from the competent State authority.
Illegal trade: Any form of transaction relating to vicuna and/or its products (sale, barter, import, export, transport, etc.) without control or authorization from the competent State authority.
Skin: Hide of the vicuna and its wool.
Hide: Skin of the vicuna without its wool.
Article 10
The present Convention shall enter into force provisionally on the date of its signature and finally from the moment when the third instrument of ratification is deposited with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru, Depositary of the Convention, which shall communicate it to the other Parties.
For the other Signatory Governments the provisional application of this Convention shall continue until such time as they deposit their respective ratification instruments.
Article 11
Any Contracting Party that wishes to withdraw from this Convention, shall communicate its intention to the other Parties through a Diplomatic Note addressed to the Depositary. Withdrawal shall be effective one year from the date on which the Depositary notifies the withdrawing Government that it has communicated its decision to the other Parties.
Article 12
This Convention shall remain open only for signature by the Republic of Argentina, being a Party to the Convention for the Conservation of the Vicuna, signed at La Paz in 1969.
Article 13
Due to its specific nature. the present Convention shall not be open for accession by other countries.
In witness whereof the Plenipotentiaries duly accredited, have signed the present Convention.
Done in Spanish, in the city of Lima on this 20th day of December 1979.
