Illegal trafficking in wildlife parts is an estimated $19 to $23 billion dollar criminal industry, responsible for driving plant and animal species to extinction in the cruelest of ways, and plundering ecosystems into ruin. Fortunately, the 183 member nations who have agreed to be bound by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) wrapped up their triennial meeting on October 5, and decided to add protections to hundreds of species in trouble. CITES protects animals by regulating trade across borders. But CITES could have, and should have done much more.

By many accounts, CITES member nations responded more effectively than usual with nearly 500 species of plants and animals receiving increased trade protections. Sharks, crocodiles, African gray parrots, some but not all lions, pangolins (eight species of scaled anteaters), Barbary macaques, and many species of reptiles and amphibians endangered by the pet trade were uplisted to more restrictive trade controls. Rosewood and other tree species decimated by timber industries were also given protection. Though elephants in Zimbabwe and Namibia were not moved to most endangered Appendix 1 as we had hoped, a nine-year effort by certain nations to resume the ivory trade was finally stopped. A new development will see CITES carry forward an important proposal to better protect live animals taken from their ecosystems for export, which will be on the agenda in CITES next meeting in 2019.

CITES came into effect in 1975 after its founding nations agreed to be bound by agreements regarding species listed in a ranked order of  three “Appendices.” Appendix 1 prohibits all international trade with few exceptions while Appendix 2 regulates trade in order to prevent overexploitation, but sadly still allows killing and collecting. Appendix 3 is for species a specific country has requested international cooperation to protect within that nation’s borders. While criminal efforts do their best to ignore CITES, having international agreements and enforcement can mean the difference between a thriving species and one that is driven to extinction.

You can check the protection status of over 35,000 species on the CITES website.

Read more here.

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