CITES

Legal Effectiveness of the 1973 Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)



Legal Effectiveness of the 1973 Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)

Introduction

One of the elements of global trade constitutes wildlife and wildlife related products which entail thousands of species of plants and animals which are imported and exported in extensive variety of forms. Live plants are more generally traded as crops or ornamentals whereas live animals are usually traded under the categories of zoo exhibits, livestock and pets. As for the non-live category derivates and parts of both animals and plants are found in complementary medicines, furniture, foodstuffs and clothing and accessories.

Travellers and tourists are a huge source of contribution to the international trade. They buy souvenirs and collect hunting trophies. Unlike domestic trade, international trade is featured to have billions of potential buyers which have unlimited money to spend. Certain plant and animal species have been adversely affected by the global marketplace demands for some wildlife related products and therefore had affected their populations. Some of the animals and plants in the past had been extensively hunted and harvested which have now either resulted in their extinction or are near extreme endangerment. Add to that the ever growing population explosion, increased global demand for wildlife products and ever improving communication and transport technologies has exacerbated the situation even more.

In 1973 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was drafted and the main reason for this convention was to respond to the drastic declines in the wild populations of many plant and animal species because of the unregulated international trade.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), in full known as Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is an international agreement which was approved and implemented in March 1973 to control global commercial trade in wild plant and animal species. The objective of establishing CITES was to ensure that global trade does not make threats to the continued existence of any species may it be plants or animals.

The background leading to the creation and establishment of this convention was the result of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) which adopted a resolution in one of the meetings of member countries sin 1963. Thus in 1973 eighty members of the IUCN adopted CITES in Washington D.C. and it was implemented in 1975. The countries which adopted the convention wee then legally bind to adopt the goals of the convention and incorporate it in their domestic legislation.

Plants and animals are categorized into three classes or appendices in cites. These appendices are basically levels which classify the species according to how threatened they are. Appendix I contain those species that are on the brink of extinction. Under this head the plants and animals in appendix I cannot be trade for commercial purposes. But for educational or scientific purposes they may be internationally transported in extraordinary situations.

Appendix II contains those species of plants and ...