The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

12 Key excerpts on "The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)"

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  International Wildlife Trade

  A Cites Sourcebook

  • Ginette Hemley(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Island Press

    (Publisher)

  2/ The Treaty

  CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA (CITES)

  Signed at Washington, D.C., March 3, 1973

  The Contracting States,

  Recognizing that wild fauna and flora in their many beautiful and varied forms are an irreplaceable part of the natural systems of the earth which must be protected for this and the generations to come;

   

  Conscious of the ever-growing value of wild fauna and flora from aesthetic, scientific, cultural, recreational and economic points of view;

   

  Recognizing that peoples and States are and should be the best protectors of their own wild fauna and flora;

   

  Recognizing, in addition, that international cooperation is essential for the protection of certain species of wild fauna and flora against over-exploitation through international trade;

   

  Convinced of the urgency of taking appropriate measures to this end;

   

  Have agreed as follows:

  Article I

  Definitions For the purpose of the present Convention, unless the context otherwise requires:

  1. “Species” means any species, subspecies or geographically separate population thereof;
  2. “Specimen” means: (i) any animal or plant, whether alive or dead;
     (ii) in the case of an animal: for species included in Appendices I and II, any readily recognizable part or derivative thereof; and for species included in Appendix III, any readily recognizable part or derivative thereof specified in Appendix III in relation to the species; and

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  Environmental Laws

  • Vierah Hulley(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Delve Publishing

    (Publisher)

  This saw to the first ever listing of species that were considered endangered by March of 1967, which was inclusive of: • 14 mammals. • 22 fish. • 6 reptiles. • 36 birds. • 6 amphibians. There was also an inclusion of species like the grizzly bear, the bald eagle, the American alligator, and the Florida manatee. A key item to be noted is that at the time, the list was only made up of vertebrates due to the fact that the act in conjunction with the Department of interior’s definition of endangered species was only wildlife and fish (Foreman, 2002). CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is a global agreement between governments. The purpose is ensuring that universal trade in wild animal and plant specimens don’t affect their survival. Today, extensive information about the endangered condition of many important species (such as tigers and elephants) may make the need for these conventions seem obvious. However, when the idea of the CITES of Wild Fauna and Flora was first developed in the 1960s, the universal discussion on the protection of the wildlife trade was comparatively new. In hindsight, CITES’ needs are obvious. Each year, the global wildlife trade is believed to be worth several billions of dollars, including several millions of animal and plant specimens. Trade is diverse, from live animals and plants to a variety of wild animal products derived from it, such as food, exotic leather products, wooden musical products, wood, travel antiques and medicine. The extent of exploitation of certain fauna and flora species is considerably high, and their trade and other factors (such as habitat loss) can seriously consume their populations and further make some species become endangered. Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora 189 6.2. ENDANGERED SPECIES CONSERVATION ACT OF 1969 6.2.1.

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  Exploiting the Wilderness

  An Analysis of Wildlife Crime

  • Greg L. Warchol(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Temple University Press

    (Publisher)

  International Agreements United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species The global wildlife trade of plant and animal species and their products is reg-ulated in part under the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endan-gered Species, which has 182 member nations, including the United States. This United Nations convention was developed in response to increasing threats to the survival of certain species, owing to growth in the international trade (CITES 2016a). Given that the wildlife trade is transnational, the instrument was developed to facilitate cooperation between exporting and importing na-tions. According to the convention, the member countries identify what species are at risk and then establish sustainable harvest quotas if any (Albanese 2011). CITES uses a three-tiered listing system of appendices. Appendix I lists the species that are banned from being traded for commercial purposes on the international market, such as tiger, gorilla, and Tibetan antelope. The interna-tional trade in species listed in Appendix I is completely banned, including trade in their parts. Some exceptions, however, are made for scientific research. Appendix II includes species that can be traded commercially, such as the gray wolf or hippo, but with regulation to ensure sustainability of use. This appendix lists species that might be threatened if their trade became unlimited. Appen-dix III lists species regulated only within a specific nation but still included because that nation needs assistance to prevent exploitation (WWF 2015a). CITES operates in part by relying on an export permit system for Ap-pendix I and II wildlife species, with the former being banned from com-mercial trade. The species listed on the first two appendices are the result of a vote of the member nations after review of proposals requesting addition to or deletion from the list.

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  International Conservation Law

  The Protection of Plants in Theory and Practice

  • Rob Amos(Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Taylor & Francis

    (Publisher)

  Second, CITES is only concerned with international trade. Trade that remains within the borders of a state does not fall within the Convention’s remit. This may of course still be subject to other international or national regulations.

  Third, despite the Contracting Parties being obliged to list a species once it has met the criteria for either Appendix I or II , the listing process is becoming increasingly politicised, especially if the species concerned is economically valuable.76 Proposals to list commercially traded marine species in particular have met with resistance, despite clearly warranting protection, as have a number of plant species that are exploited for their timber.77

  It has consequently been suggested that there should be stronger ties between CITES and the Biodiversity Convention, even to the point of recasting CITES as a protocol to the Biodiversity Convention.78 This reflects broader concerns about the impact that the fragmentation of international environmental law has on efforts to develop a holistic response to current ecological crises.79 I am unconvinced that a radical reformation of CITES is the appropriate response. Although there are limits to how much CITES can slow the rate of global biodiversity loss,80 regulating trade is an important element of any holistic response to biodiversity loss and, on paper at least, CITES has all the hallmarks of a sound environmental instrument. In comparison, the Convention on Biodiversity, as we saw in Chapter 2 , is by design a deeply flawed instrument and one that is largely failing to protect both plants and the natural world as a whole. Rather than relegating CITES to the role of a mere constituent part of another regime, the natural world would be better served by CITES becoming the template for reforms to both the Biodiversity Convention and other multilateral conservation agreements. Many of CITES’s features enable it to effectively protect plants from the impacts of unsustainable international trade. This is despite the inclusion of plants in the remit of CITES almost being an afterthought during its negotiation.81

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  Endangered Species Threatened Convention

  The Past, Present and Future of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

  • Barnabas Dickson, Jon Hutton(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  In this chapter I would like to demonstrate these general points within the context of a case study of CITES. In this context it will be easy to show that the initial system of international regulation had little to offer to one side of the exchange, but that for this reason, the system (to become effective) has had to evolve increasingly toward the middle ground. This middle ground lies between the wildlife producing states and the wildlife consuming states. At the same time, it is moving toward becoming an international regime that works: it will establish the means and the mechanism through which poor countries will be able to afford to conserve wildlife within their territories. This will allow them to develop down a pathway consistent with the retention of their wildlife. CITES has taken nearly thirty years to reach a juncture closer to the middle ground between the parties involved in this trade. By learning from this process, it should be possible to develop other international regulatory regimes that have the prospect of becoming effective and useful from the outset.

  THE CONTROL STRUCTURE WITHIN CITES AS DRAFTED

  Of the large number of international environmental conventions, CITES has probably the single most detailed control structure. It was the first international wildlife treaty to provide for both express obligations and international monitoring. Therefore, CITES represents an important step along the road toward making substantive international law with concrete impacts. The purpose of this analysis is, however, to ascertain the capability of the convention to address, as drafted, the developing world’s perspective on the endangered species problem. Other authors may be consulted for a detailed analysis of the specific workings of CITES (Lyster, 1985; Wijnstekers, 1990).

  CITES was signed in March, 1973 and came into force two years later. The argument of this chapter is that CITES was originally drafted with little attention to the problems of the developing countries in maintaining their species. It focused instead on the identification of species that were endangered through commercial use, and the prohibition of trade in the same. Once a species is listed on either of the CITES appendices, it becomes subject to the permit requirements of the convention. An Appendix I species may not be shipped in the absence of the issuance of an export permit by the exporting state [Article III(2)]. In addition, this permit may not be issued unless both the exporting state certifies that the export will not be detrimental to the species, and the importing state certifies (by the issuance of an import permit) that the import will not be used for commercial purposes [Article III(3) (c)]. Therefore, an Appendix I listing acts as an effective ban on the trade in those species and, even if exporters wish to continue the trade, the importing states have the duty to deny all commercial imports. An Appendix II listing, on the other hand, leaves the decision on trade control wholly to the discretion of the exporting state. That is, there is no role for the importing state, other than to ensure that an export permit has been issued for each specimen [Article IV(4)]. These permits are allowed to be issued so long as the exporting state itself certifies that the export will not be detrimental to the survival of the species within the exporting state [Article IV(2)].

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  Tropical Botanic Gardens

  Their Role in Conservation and Development

  • V. H. Heywood, Peter Wyse Jackson(Authors)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Academic Press

    (Publisher)

  And it also, with reason, gives support to the CITES 251 oft-heard statements: "If you see how all orchids/cacti are destroyed what difference does it make if I take a few" or "Let us take all those plants out and grow them ourselves". Ultimately this may lead to some other more positive activities. The first salvage operation for orchids has been started in Mexico, although I feel that in this particular case commercial aspects play an equally important r le. The r le CITES can play to help in the protection of what is left to us is a clear one. I cannot and will not confront you with all the aspects of plant trade. In November 1988 the Plants Committee of CITES met in Kew to discuss these issues. The meeting lasted four days and we did not even cover all the ground we had to. Since then the 7th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties was held in Lausanne (October 1989). During this meeting the Plants Committee held its second meeting. The third is scheduled for July 1990 in Venezuela. Here I can only briefly describe how CITES works and touch on some of the problems. CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is a trade convention, and it assists in controlling (the species on Appendix II) or restricting (the species on Appendix I) the trade in endangered species. (See Wynstekers, 1988 (new edition, 1990) or Favre, 1989). Which species will be on which Appendix is decided by the countries who, voluntarily, have become a Party to CITES. Persons making the decisions at the biennial CITES Conference of the Parties to the Convention are official representatives of their Government, subject to political instructions. A ratification of CITES by a country means that all those countries must build into their legislation the instruments necessary for the proper implementation of CITES. Basically, the ap- pendices were, for the greater part, drafted during the first meeting in Washington, in 1973.

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  Rebuilding the Ark

  New Perspectives on Endangered Species Act Reform

  • Jonathan H. Adler(Author)
  • 2011(Publication Date)
  • AEI Press

    (Publisher)

  9

  Protecting Endangered Species at Home and Abroad: The International Conservation Effects of the Endangered Species Act and Its Relationship to CITES

  Michael De Alessi

  While the Endangered Species Act (ESA) provides for the legal protection of threatened and endangered species within the United States, international protection of threatened and endangered species rests primarily with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). CITES protects endangered species by monitoring, regulating, and sometimes prohibiting trade of threatened and endangered species as well as of their parts and products; the ESA also has provisions to protect foreign endangered species by banning trade in them. The ESA and CITES both came into force in 1973, and both employ the species-specific approach to protecting threatened and endangered species that was favored at that time. Both rely on restrictions and penalties for harm to species rather than on incentives to protect species and their habitats. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) are the agencies responsible for implementing the ESA and for carrying out U.S. responsibilities under CITES.

  The ESA and CITES have been much praised and criticized—and, given their similar histories and approaches, it is not surprising that the praise and criticism of each have much in common. It is difficult to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the ESA and CITES. Defenders point to the dearth of extinctions of protected species as evidence of success, while critics cite the lack of species recoveries or removal from endangered status as proof of failure. Both the ESA and CITES are often criticized for their reliance on protective measures that, at least in some cases, also create incentives that undermine the goal of species protection and recovery

  I will argue that the species-specific approach of ESA and CITES is fundamentally flawed. Both ESA and CITES neglect the need to protect ecosystems as a whole, and both create potentially perverse incentives for those whose actions affect threatened and endangered species. While it is impossible for the U.S. government alone to change CITES, the ESA could be reformed both to better protect foreign endangered species and to push CITES toward protecting habitats and ecosystems rather than single species.

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  Wildlife Habitat Management

  Concepts and Applications in Forestry, Second Edition

  • Brenda C. McComb(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  Private property owners have property rights, and, in some places, they may also have water and mineral rights, restricting what society can demand from their land (Bliss et al. 1997). So although society may say it wants active habitat management for a rare species on private lands, unless the land is deemed critical habitat for an endangered species, society cannot make the landowner do anything—unless there are laws. INTERNATIONAL LAWS AND AGREEMENTS The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international agreement among governments designed to protect species worldwide. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival (Mace and Lande 1991). CITES was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and signed in Washington DC in 1973 (Hutton and Dickson 2000). There are now 169 signatories. Today, it provides varying degrees of protection to more than 30,000 species of animals and plants, whether they are sold alive or sold as animal or plant parts (e.g., ivory). This resolution has no habitat provisions; however, several legislations in the United States authorize Congress to appropriate funds to aid in international efforts at habitat conservation. The International Environment Protection Act of 1983 and the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act of 2000 provide funds to other countries to benefit species of animals, par-ticularly those which cross international boundaries (Elliott et al. 2005). Each country has its own set of laws regarding conservation of wildlife, forests, and habitat. Laws in some countries are extensive and enforced rigorously. In some countries laws exist but are not consistently enforced. In all cases, political pressures can lead to variable interpretation of the laws.

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  International Conventions on Protection of Humanity and Environment

  • Günter Hoog, Angela Steinmetz, Günter Hoog, Angela Steinmetz(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • De Gruyter

    (Publisher)

  9. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna March 3, 1973 BGBl 1975 II, 777; 12 I.L.M. 1085 [1973] The Contracting States, RECOGNIZING that wild fauna and flora in their many beautiful and varied forms are an irreplaceable part of the natural systems of the earth which must be protected for this and the generations to come; CONSCIOUS of the ever-growing value of wild fauna and flora from aesthetic, scientific, cultural, recrea-tional and economic points of view; RECOGNIZING that peoples and States are and should be the best protectors of their own wild fauna and flora,-RECOGNIZING, in addition, that international co-operation is essential for the protection of certain species of wild fauna and flora against over-exploitation through international trade; CONVINCED of the urgency of taking appropriate measures to this end; dices I and II, any readily recognizable part or deriva-tive thereof; and for species included in Appendix III, any readily recognizable part or derivative thereof specified in ppendix III in relation to the species; and (iii) in the case of a plant: for species included in Appen-dix I, any readily recogniz-able part or derivative thereof; and for species in-cluded in Appendices II and III, any readily recogniz-able part or derivative there-of specified in Appendices II and III in relation to the species; (c) Trade means export, re-export, import and introduction from the sea; (d) Re-export means export of any specimen that has previously been imported; HAVE AGREED as follows: Article I Definitions For the purpose of the present Con-vention, unless the context otherwise requires: (a) Species means any species, sub-species, or geographically separate population thereof; (b) Specimen means: (i) any animal or plant, whether alive or dead; (ii) in the case of an animal: for species included in Appen-(e) Introduction from the sea means transportation into a State of specimens of any species which were taken in the marine environ-ment not

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  Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Communication

  • Susanna Hornig Priest, Susanna Horning Priest(Authors)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  Habitat destruction is generally considered the most common, and often the most irreversible, explanation for a species of plant or animal to have become endangered. But in the past and con-tinuing into the present day, direct exploitation— harvesting for commercial or subsistence use—has raised the specter of doom for countless types of organisms. (The most alarming and seemingly untouchable example of destructive direct exploi-tation today may be industrial taking of innumer-able species of fish and invertebrates in every ocean on the planet.) The ESA can respond to some of these harvest challenges, but the legal mechanism with the most comprehensive scope to attend to commercial use of wildlife is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora, or CITES. The CITES treaty was ratified by the United States in 1973, the same year that saw passage of the ESA. Indeed, over time, the two legal mechanisms have comple-mented one another repeatedly. CITES exists out of the now global recognition that international trade in, for example, elephant ivory, sea turtle scales (tortoise shell), rare cactus plants, parrots for pets, and black coral can precipitate extinction. CITES, as a plurinational treaty organization, is particularly interesting and in a sense, superior to the ESA because it allows advocates, including scientists, in one country to influence policy—and wildlife harvest—in another. Thus, if frighteningly rare hyacinthine macaws are found to have been smuggled from Brazil into Holland, the European community might threaten an embargo on Brazilian coffee until the illegal trade is curtailed. As examples of endangered species law, the ESA rallied the United States and became a beacon and a model for worldwide concern and attention for imperiled plants and animals. CITES became a shared global mechanism to directly address some of the most pressing threats.

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  Sourcebook on Environmental Law

  • Maurice Sunkin(Author)
  • 2001(Publication Date)
  • Routledge-Cavendish

    (Publisher)

  By focussing on the conservation of species diversity rather than endangered species, the Biodiversity Convention takes up the battle to protect species as a whole at a much earlier stage in the process. Conceptually, the Biodiversity Convention is also different from CITES in that although both are concerned with the protection of species, the Biodiversity Convention also attempts to conserve these species within their natural habitats as far as possible (Preamble). This definite preference within the Convention for in-situ (Art 8) as opposed to ex-situ (Art 9) conservation measures marks another interesting aspect of this Convention. Since the Convention reaffirms the principle of States’ sovereignty over their own biological resources (Preamble and Arts 3 and 15), it does not attempt to internationalise ownership over these resources. Indeed, the Convention arguably denies even a right of access to these resources for other States, requiring States which have sovereignty over biological resources merely to ‘endeavour to create conditions to facilitate access to genetic resources’ (Art 15). However this sovereignty is not unlimited or absolute. In particular, as Boyle notes, the acceptance of the principle of the conservation of biological resources as a common concern of humankind is significant, albeit in the much more limited sense of legitimising international interest in the conservation and use of resources which would otherwise be within the territorial sovereignty of a State. Like concern for human rights, it acknowledges that the management of a State’s own environment and resources is a matter in which all States have standing, even if they are not directly injured by any specific misuse of resources

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  Transforming Biodiversity Governance

  • Ingrid J. Visseren-Hamakers, Marcel T. J. Kok(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  This increasing attention for transformative change can be seen as the start of a new, third era in global biodiversity governance. During the first era, early nature conservation policies were developed in silos – the focus was on conserving biodiversity and developing and better managing protected areas. These older intergovernmental processes, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), date back to the 1970s. The central intergovernmental biodiversity process, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), was adopted in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), along with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) (Le Prestre, 2002). The CBD has three main objectives, namely the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources (CBD, 1992). In 2002, parties to the CBD agreed on targets to significantly reduce of the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. After this target was not met, the CBD developed new targets for 2020, the Aichi 3 targets, as part of its Strategic Plan 2011–2020 (Table 1.1). With this strategic plan, a second era started as attention shifted toward mainstreaming biodiversity in the most relevant policy domains and sectors, such as forestry and fisheries. However, most of these targets, again, were not met (CBD, 2010; 2020b) (also see Chapter 3). The adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 can be seen as the start of the third biodiversity governance era.

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