{"id":46713,"date":"2025-07-02T19:28:29","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T13:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=46713"},"modified":"2025-07-11T19:46:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T14:16:55","slug":"50-years-of-cites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-07-2025\/50-years-of-cites","title":{"rendered":"50 Years of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS3\/ Environment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) marks 50 years since it entered into force.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>About<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Genesis:<\/strong> CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) is a pioneering global agreement originally conceived in 1963 at a meeting of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/international-union-for-conservation-of-nature-iucn\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/blog\/international-union-for-conservation-of-nature-iucn\/\"><strong>International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Aim and Scope: <\/strong>CITES is a voluntary international agreement between governments, aiming to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It operates through a licensing system that regulates all import, export, and re-export of listed species and their parts or derivatives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Administration and Structure:<\/strong> The CITES Secretariat is administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Geneva, Switzerland.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As of 2024, there are 185 Parties (countries or regional organizations) to CITES; India ratified the Convention in 1976.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>While CITES is legally binding on its Parties, it does not replace national laws. Instead, each Party must implement CITES through its own domestic legislation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Significance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>CITES was the first global agreement to address wildlife trade at an international level, providing a framework for cooperation to prevent over-exploitation and extinction due to trade.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It remains a cornerstone of international efforts to protect biodiversity, with its effectiveness relying on the commitment and enforcement by its member Parties.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Initiatives<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) Programme: <\/strong>Adopted at the 10th CoP Harare (1997)<strong>, <\/strong>this site-based system monitors trends in the illegal killing of elephants across Africa and Asia.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC):<\/strong> Launched in 2010, ICCWC is a partnership between CITES and other organizations to support national law enforcement agencies in combating wildlife and forest crime.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Strategic Vision 2021\u20132030:<\/strong> This framework guides CITES\u2019 efforts to ensure wildlife trade supports global biodiversity goals, sustainable development, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>CITES Tree Species Programme:<\/strong> Launched in 2024, focuses on improving the management and sustainable use of tree species listed under CITES.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: UN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) marks 50 years since it entered into force.\u00a0<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Significance<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">CITES was the first global agreement to address wildlife trade at an international level, providing a framework for cooperation to prevent over-exploitation and extinction due to trade.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/02-07-2025\/50-years-of-cites\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read\u00a0More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46713"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47827,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46713\/revisions\/47827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}