CITES – Washington Convention on the Protection of Species
Origin and Development of the International Convention
Already one year later, in February 1973, the U.S. government convened a world conference in Washington D.C. After three weeks of negotiations attended by 88 nations, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was signed on March 3, 1973. In German, it is called the Übereinkommen über den internationalen Handel mit gefährdeten Arten freilebender Tiere und Pflanzen, commonly referred to as the Washingtoner Artenschutzübereinkommen (WA). The convention came into force in 1975, and the first Conference of the Parties (CoP) took place in 1976 in Bern. Today, more than 180 states are parties to the convention.
The cross-border, international trade in CITES-listed species is one of the most lucrative economic activities. In 2002, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimated the illegal component of this global trade at USD 5–8 billion, roughly equivalent to the illegal arms and drug markets. However, in contrast to arms and drug trafficking, combating illegal trade in CITES species receives comparatively low priority.
TRAFFIC (Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce) is the world’s largest program for monitoring and documenting the trade in wild animals and plants. Founded in 1976 by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), TRAFFIC seeks innovative and practical solutions using modern information tools to develop regulations that protect both humans and species.
Millions of live animals and plants are imported every year into major markets such as the USA, Japan, and the European Union (EU), including South American parrots, African reptiles, or Southeast Asian orchids. In addition, a wide variety of products made from wild animals and plants—such as shoes or bags from reptile leather, wooden products like furniture, or dried plants used for medicinal purposes—meet high consumer demand in industrialized countries. CITES, together with EU regulations on the trade in wild fauna and flora and national laws, forms a comprehensive legal framework regulating trade in over 40,900 CITES-listed species worldwide.
The purpose of the CITES convention is not to ban international trade in wild animals and plants altogether, but to ensure sustainable use of natural resources through international controls. At the same time, in cooperation with the UN, environmental organizations such as the IUCN, and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), CITES contributes to achieving the 2011–2020 Biodiversity Targets (significant reduction of biodiversity loss) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly poverty reduction.
CITES parties explicitly recognize that sustainable use of renewable natural resources, including live animals and plants, can be an effective means of conserving species. The 2008–2020 Strategic Plan of the convention confirms that sustainable trade in wild fauna and flora can contribute to broader goals of sustainable economic development and biodiversity protection, and that balanced trade mechanisms must be developed in ways compatible with the livelihoods of local communities.
Austria ratified the convention in 1981 and became a party on April 27, 1982.