Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) marks 50 years | Current Affairs | Vision IAS
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Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) marks 50 years

Posted 02 Jul 2025

2 min read

Originally conceived in 1963 at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) meeting, it entered into force in 1975, as a first of its kind global agreement. 

About CITES

  • Aim: Voluntary international agreement between governments ensuring international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. 
    • It subjects international trade to certain controls covering all import, export, re-export, through a licensing system.
  • Secretariat: Administered by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) at Geneva, Switzerland.
    • IUCN provides scientific and technical services to the CITES Secretariat.
  • Parties: 185 parties (States or regional economic organizations). India ratified in 1976. 
    • Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties, it does not take the place of national laws, rather each party implements it through its own domestic legislation. 
  • Conference of Parties (CoP): Highest Decision making body. CoP3 was held in New Delhi in  1981.
  • CITES Trade Database: Managed by the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) on behalf of the CITES Secretariat. 

Key Initiatives 

  • Protects over 40,900 species (6,610 species of animals and 34,310 species of plants). 
  • MIKE Programme, established by Resolution adopted at the 10th CoP (1997, Harare). 
  • Site-based system to monitor trends in levels of illegal killing of elephants across the range of African and Asian elephants.
  • Others: International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), 2010; CITES Tree Species Project, 2024, etc. 
  • Tags :
  • CITES
  • UNEP
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