TRAFFIC Recommendations on proposals to amend the CITES Appendices published
Cambridge, UK, 9th August 2016—TRAFFIC today published its Recommendations on the Proposals to amend the species listed in the Appendices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Species are listed in one of three appendices under CITES in order to protect them from excessive harvesting for international trade. Appendix I listing means international commercial trade is prohibited, while Appendix II means it permitted under strict rules, while Appendix III listing is used by countries to seek assistance with monitoring levels of trade.
Changes to these listings are put forward by CITES member governments as Proposals at each Conference of the Parties to CITES, the next of which begins next month in South Africa (CoP17). There, more than 60 Proposals to amend the Appendices will be debated and decided upon by representatives from more than 180 governments expected to attend CoP17.
A set of biological and trade criteria adopted within CITES are used to help determine which Appendix species should be placed within. Since the late 1980s, IUCN and TRAFFIC have together carried out in-depth Analyses of all such Proposals to determine whether they meet these criteria or not.
These IUCN/TRAFFIC Analyses of the CoP17 Proposals were published last month and using them as their foundation, TRAFFIC is now publishing its Recommendations on each Proposal which attempt to answer the basic question as to whether we consider a proposed change to the regulatory treatment of a species under CITES would, on balance, be in the best interest of the conservation of the species concerned and be a proportionate response to anticipated risks.
The full list of TRAFFIC Recommendations on CoP17 Proposals is now available in English, French and Spanish and can be read online or downloaded as a PDF, together with an introduction to the approach TRAFFIC has taken to arrive at our conclusions.
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, is an international agreement between governments that aims to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Find out more here.
About IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together. For more information visit: iucn.org
