India has been removed from Review of Significant Trade (RST) for Red Sanders, under Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
India is a Party to the CITES since 1976.
What is CITES?
• The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES or the Washington Convention, was signed on March 3, 1973 and entered into force on July 1, 1975.
• With 184 Parties (183 countries and the European Union), it remains one of the world’s most powerful tools for wildlife conservation through the regulation of international trade in over 36,000 species of wild animals and plants.
• The CITES Secretariat is administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and is located at Geneva, Switzerland.
• Annually, international wildlife trade is estimated to be worth billions of dollars and to include hundreds of millions of plant and animal specimens. The trade is diverse, ranging from live animals and plants to a vast array of wildlife products derived from them, including food products, exotic leather goods, wooden musical instruments, timber, tourist curios and medicines.
• Levels of exploitation of some animal and plant species are high and the trade in them, together with other factors, such as habitat loss, is capable of heavily depleting their populations and even bringing some species close to extinction.
• Many wildlife species in trade are not endangered, but the existence of an agreement to ensure the sustainability of the trade is important in order to safeguard these resources for the future.
• CITES seeks to ensure that international trade in such species is sustainable, legal and traceable and contributes to both the livelihoods of the communities that live closest to them and to national economies for a healthy planet and the prosperity of the people in support of UN Sustainable Development Goals.
• CITES regulates international trade in specimens of species of wild fauna and flora based on a system of permits and certificates issued under certain conditions.
• It covers export, re-export, import and landing from the high seas of live and dead animals and plants and their parts and derivatives.
How CITES works?
• CITES works by subjecting international trade in specimens of selected species to certain controls.
• All import, export, re-export and introduction from the sea of species covered by the Convention has to be authorised through a licensing system.
• Each Party to the Convention must designate one or more management authorities in charge of administering that licensing system and one or more scientific authorities to advise them on the effects of trade on the status of the species.
• The species covered by CITES are listed in three Appendices, according to the degree of protection they need.
i) Appendix I includes species threatened with extinction. Trade in specimens of these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances.
ii) Appendix II includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled in order to avoid utilisation incompatible with their survival.
iii) Appendix III contains species that are protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade. International trade in specimens of species listed in this Appendix is allowed only on presentation of the appropriate permits or certificates.
• Species may be added to or removed from Appendix I and II, or moved between them, only by the Conference of the Parties (CoP).
• At each regular meeting of the CoP, Parties submit proposals based on those criteria to amend these two Appendices I and II. Those amendment proposals are discussed and then submitted to a vote.
• Changes to Appendix III follow a distinct procedure from changes to Appendices I and II, as each Party is entitled to make unilateral amendments to it.