U.N. celebrates conservation success stories with March 3 Endangered Species issue

By David Hartwig

The United Nations Postal Administration will issue a new set of 12 Endangered Species stamps March 3.

Since 1993, the Endangered Species stamp series has represented the need for protection of plants and animals listed on appendices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Known as CITES, the convention is an international agreement among governments to safeguard trade in specimens of wild animals and plants.

CITES organizes species into three appendices based on levels of protection, with species most endangered listed in appendix I, and species that may become threatened listed in appendix II. Appendix III lists species protected by at least one country that has asked other countries to assist in controlling the trade.

On March 3, 1973, representatives from 80 countries finalized the text of the convention and opened CITES for signatures.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of this milestone, the March 3 Endangered Species stamps feature flora and fauna that are conservation success stories.

Like previous stamps in this series, the new stamps are issued in panes of 16, each with four se-tenant (side-by-side) designs. There is a separate pane for each U.N. post office.

The four $1.45 stamps for the post office at U.N. headquarters in New York City show a bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), Morelet’s crocodile (Ovis canadensis), bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and Cape aloe (Aloe ferox). …

The four 1.80-franc stamps for the post office at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, show Przewalski’s horse (Equus przewalskii); a green turtle (Chelonia mydas); California condor (Gymnogyps californianus); and Dalbergia saxatilis, a climbing shrub. …

The €1.20 stamps illustrate a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica), Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) and snowdrop (Galanthus elwesii). These stamps are for the post office at the Vienna International Center in Vienna, Austria. …

For ordering information for these new Endangered Species stamps and related products, visit the UNPA website; email unpanyinquiries@un.org; telephone 212-963-7684 or 800-234-8672; or write to UNPA, Box 5900, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163-5900.

To read more about these new Endangered Species stamps, subscribe to Linn’s Stamp News.

Connect with Linn’s Stamp News: 

    Sign up for our newsletter
    Like us on Facebook
    Follow us on Twitter