The tension was tangible in Committee Room 1 as the debate on the great white shark intensified. Australia and Madagascar were leading the campaign to have the predator listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Even though they had no idea of the species' global population, they quoted credible academic research that suggested numbers had declined by between 60 percent and 95 percent over the past few decades.
Fighting against the move to place tight controls on trade in sharks was Japan, supported by its whaling partners and vassal states.
They argued that, as it was impossible to calculate the species' population, it was impossible to assess the threat to it from trade.
The conservationists need not have worried. The proposal was passed overwhelmingly and, for the first time at the biannual conference, this year attended by 166 nations and 150 other organizations, a round of applause rippled round the convention center in the Thai capital of Bangkok.
As with equally important but less controversial decisions taken to protect the humphead wrasse and to limit trade in the tropical hardwood ramin, the ramifications went far beyond the likely survival of these three high-profile species.
The moves sent a strong signal that CITES is determined to extend its area of interest from traditional land-based fauna to high-profile, commercially-sensitive marine and timber species.
"If CITES cannot get to grips with timber and fisheries and play an appropriate role, it's not facing up to its mandate," said Steven Broad, the executive director of Traffic International, an organization that monitors the global wildlife trade.
Julian Newman, of the Environmental Investigation Agency, which has done a lot of work on the illegal trade in ramin -- a wood used often for blinds, pool cues and baby cots -- says this conference has marked a turning point in the global awareness of the convention.
"Usually, the timber industry has very entrenched interests," he says. "But countries are now recognizing that CITES can play a role in controlling the illegal trade in timber."
The big "but," according to Newman and many others, is that committee-room victories are meaningless without effective enforcement of decisions.
And that, as Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra pointed out in his speech, is still a distant dream.
"Globally, the illegal trading in wildlife, timber and other natural resources is now surpassed only by the trafficking in drugs and weapons," Shinawatra said.
"To make matters worse, it has been found that criminal elements involved in conventional forms of organized crime are often linked to this illegal trade in wildlife and timber," he said.
"There aren't many customs or police here," said John Parr, conservation director of WWF Thailand. "We should be promoting a CITES unit within Customs or the police because they are a lot more powerful than the CITES management authorities. All we need is two or three people [in each country] being given a mandate to focus on wildlife. It would then snowball."
Enforcement did get much more attention than at past conferences. Southeast Asia states led with an announcement that they would form a regional action plan on the enforcement of trade regulations in wild fauna and flora.
One issue that needs addressing, according to Broad, is the severity of sentences for wildlife crimes. China, he said, sometimes uses the death penalty, while Singapore usually issues a small fine.
"The stakes are very high," he said. "For example, toothfish smugglers can lose one ship and not be concerned, if two others get through."
The other main theme of the conference was that conservation appears to be gaining the upper hand over the traders.
"The general trend is more conservation minded," said Peter Pueschel, head of the large International Fund for Animal Welfare delegation. "There have also been a lot of decisions not in the public eye but which are also very important, such as attempts to help [enforcement] capacity building."
Broad agrees, and believes the balance between trade and conservation is now about right.
"CITES is lobbied by both sides and it needs to be," he says. "It's one of its strengths because you can't realistically pretend this is not about trade. It has to deal with that, and also needs to do more to engage the private sector, from both sides."
But although CITES Secretary-General Willem Wijnstekers described the conference as "certainly among the best meetings ... we've ever had," and most participating groups agreed, conservation did not win every battle.
Many conservationists were upset that, in the final plenary session, the parties agreed to clamp down on illegal trade in African elephant ivory, but also voted to give Namibia permission to sell traditional ivory carvings -- known as ekipas -- as tourist souvenirs under strictly controlled conditions.
"People don't read the fine print," Pueschel said. "The message that sinks in is that ivory trade is allowed."
Other disappointments were that the budget was slashed by some 7 percent, which is likely to impact hardest on enforcement capacity building in developing countries, according to Wijnstekers.
As delegates left the plenary, with more of a spring in their step than expected, some people injected a note of caution.
"Our question is what will the situation be in six months, after the spotlight has moved," Broad said.
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