The Convention on International Trade in Species of Wild Wild flora and flora threatened with extinction (CITES) works to establish “legal, sustainable and traceable” transactions.
by Perrine Mouterde
Shark white nose, black nose shark, rosewood, pernambouc wood, sea cucumber, yellow-headed bulbul, yellow front turtle, white rhino … These wild species, like so many others, are taken In the wild and sold for their meat, their fin, their ivory, to make furniture or musical instruments, serve as pets or enrich a collection.
To ensure that these transactions do not threaten their survival, the Convention on the International Trade in Species of Wild Wild flora and flora threatened with extinction (CITES) meets in Panama, as of Monday, November 14, in The opportunity for his 19
“The second cause of loss of biodiversity is the overexploitation of species: this includes legal trade, which must therefore be regulated, and illegal trade, explains Ivonne Higuero, the secretary general of the CITES. We need to do trade, because this provides jobs, food and income to populations. But we are at a crossroads: either we have a short -term vision and we look at what brings us money today , either we make biodiversity continue to exist in several generations. “
sharks, major issue
In a report published in July , the scientific and political intergovernmental platform on biodiversity and ecosystem services (IPBES) recalls that the world trade in flora and fauna has developed considerably over the past forty years. Hundreds of millions of living specimens or derivative products are now exchanged each year, on a market weighing several billion euros. “In the absence of effective regulations on the entire supply chain, this trade generally increases the pressure on species, leading to unsustainable use and sometimes to the collapse of populations”, underline the experts.
To better regulate these exchanges, the CITES, entered into force in 1975 and ratified by 184 states and organizations, has already registered on its three “annexes” some 38,000 species – including a very large majority of plants – in poor condition conservation and for which trade represents a threat factor. An inscription in Annex 1, the most protective, prohibits any transaction for commercial purposes. For species in Annex 2, imports and exports continue to be authorized, but they are supervised by license and quotas systems. Finally, Annex 3 prohibits trade from a particular destination, for example for an endemic species. “This convention has a certain strength, and the States strive to respect its decisions,” says Florian Kirchner, in charge of the species program within the French Committee of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
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