Iris Ho: Primates, Policy, and the Power of CITES

About this episode

David Oakes interviews Iris Ho about the intersection of primate conservation and international policy at the CITES conference.

Recorded on the outskirts of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, this episode finds David at the 20th Conference of the Parties to CITES – the global treaty that has regulated international trade in endangered species for the past 50 years. Inside, beneath flickering lights, 185 nation-states haggle over commas, clauses and quotas; at the back of the room sit conservation NGOs, animal welfare groups, trophy-hunting lobbyists, biomedical interests and import–export industries, all vying to shape the fate of the world’s wildlife. Amid this diplomatic circus, just outside the expo centre, David sits down lakeside with Iris Ho , a proudly self-professed “CITES nerd”. Born in Taiwan and now based in Washington, DC, Iris is Head of Campaigns and Policy at the Pan-African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA) – the largest network of accredited primate sanctuaries in Africa. She explains how PASA’s work caring for rescued primates on the ground connects directly to the policies debated in those halls, and why a single well-crafted decision can protect far more animals than any one sanctuary ever could. Together, they explore Iris’s efforts to up-list the golden-bellied mangabey to the highest level of CITES…

People in this episode

Host: David Oakes

Guest: Iris Ho

Topics covered

• CITES
• wildlife conservation
• primate sanctuaries
• international policy
• animal welfare

Keywords

• CITES
• primate conservation
• Iris Ho
• wildlife trade
• animal welfare
• PASA
• golden-bellied mangabey

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Pan-African Sanctuary Alliance

Places: Taiwan, Washington, DC, Samarkand, Uzbekistan

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