Joint meeting of the CITES Animals and Plants Committees: The joint meeting of the CITES Animals and Plants Committees will address a number of agenda items common to the two scientific committees, including: cooperation with other conventions ; guidelines on NDFs ; transport of live specimens ; and the evaluation of the RST.

Although the Animals Committee of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ( CITES ) recommended additional conservation actions for the porbeagle, CITES rejected proposals to list the species in 2008 and again in 2010.

The Apollo is on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals, in Appendix II in CITES.

At the 2006 meeting of the CITES Animals Committee some suggested O. alexandrae should be moved to Appendix II, as the conservation benefits of sustainable management perhaps are higher than those of the trade ban.

CITES ( the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention ) is a multilateral treaty, drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ).

St Kitts and Nevis Commissioner, Cedric Liburd, pointed out to various anti whaling counties during debate on the secret ballot vote on the first day of the 2006 meeting in St Kitts that it was extremely hypocritical of such countries to pontificate on the need for transparency within the IWC by open voting when such countries quite happily voted via secret ballot in CITES, a similar management body.

That meeting was held in Washington, D. C. in February, 1973 and produced the comprehensive multilateral treaty known as CITES or Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

" Sawfishes are now protected under the highest protection level of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ( CITES ), Appendix I, but given the great volume of the shark fin trade, and that detached shark fins are difficult to identify, it is unlikely that CITES protection will prevent sawfish fins from entering the trade.

The IUCN lists it as a threatened species, and as of June 14, 2006, it was afforded some international protection by being listed as a CITES 3 species ( which will put limits on exportation from the United States and all international trade in this species ).

General limitations about the structure and philosophy of CITES include: by design and intent it focuses on trade at the species level and does not address habitat loss, ecosystem approaches to conservation, or poverty ; it seeks to prevent unsustainable use rather than promote sustainable use ( which generally conflicts with the Convention on Biological Diversity ), although this has been changing ( see Nile Crocodile, African elephant, South African white rhino case studies in Hutton and Dickinson 2000 ).

Specific weaknesses in the text include: it does not stipulate guidelines for the ' non-detriment ' finding required of national Scientific Authorities ; non-detriment findings require copious amounts of information ; the ' household effects ' clause is often not rigid enough / specific enough to prevent CITES violations by means of this Article ( VII ); non-reporting from Parties means Secretariat monitoring is incomplete ; and it has no capacity to address domestic trade in listed species.

The REIO would vote at CITES meetings with the number of votes representing the number of members in the REIO, but it would not have any additional vote.

Thanks to CITES, this number has decreased substantially in recent years, but poaching continues, and red pandas are often sold to private collectors at exorbitant prices.

The species is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, due to the number of regional extirpations, and under Appendix II by CITES, tightly restricting trade in specimens of the animal.

Because of the large numbers of lizards that were being exported for the pet trade, the small region to which the skink is native, and its low reproductive rate, in 1992 Corucia zebrata was listed as a CITES Appendix II animal, which allows limits to be placed on the number of animals in commercial trade between countries.

There are a number of registered CITES breeders in Asia and the specimens they produce can be imported into several nations.

* 2 April-4 April-A conference in Delhi, organized under the UN Environment Programme's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ( CITES ), brings together for the first time the members of a new task force on the future of tigers in the wild-thought to number 5, 000-7, 000 in total.

Suggestions for improvement in the operation of CITES include: more regular missions by the Secretariat ( not reserved just for high profile species ); improvement of national legislation and enforcement ; better reporting by Parties ( and the consolidation of information from all sources-NGOs, TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network and Parties ); more emphasis on enforcement-including a technical committee enforcement officer ; the development of CITES Action Plans ( akin to Biodiversity Action Plans related to the Convention on Biological Diversity ) including: designation of Scientific / Management Authorities and national enforcement strategies ; incentives for reporting and timelines for both Action Plans and reporting.

* TRAFFIC reports on the ivory trade including those on ETIS ( Elephant Trade Information System ) prepared on behalf of CITES.

As a result, the government of Chile strongly opposed proposals oriented to down list whale species from Appendix I and supported proposals oriented to include whale and basking sharks in CITES Appendix II, during the 12th Conference of the Parties of CITES conducted in Santiago de Chile.

In 2006, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ( CITES ) suspended all trade made with the traditional caviar-producing sturgeons of the Caspian and Black Seas ( Beluga, Ossetra and Sevruga ), ( Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine ) due to the producing countries ' failure to apply international regulations and recommendations.

This listing was removed from CITES in June 2010 by the South African government and South African abalone is no longer subject to CITES trade controls.

Due to its listing in CITES Appendix I, obtaining a red panda as a pet would now be quite difficult.

Global trade in walrus ivory is restricted according to a CITES Appendix 3 listing.

With the listing, CITES recognizes the species as critically endangered and threatened with extinction.

International trade is prohibited by the listing of the South Asian river dolphin on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ( CITES ).

On 16 October 2009, Monaco formally recommended Endangered Atlantic bluefin tuna for an Appendix I CITES listing and international trade ban.

Due to over-exploitation, the species is now much scarcer than formerly, and is listed under CITES Appendix I ; export of the wood is prohibited under this listing.

The giant armadillo is protected by law in Colombia, Guyana, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Suriname and Peru, and international trade is banned by its listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ( CITES ).

Habitat loss and trapping wild birds for the pet trade has taken a heavy toll on their population in the wild, and as a result the species is classified as Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, and it is protected by its listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora ( CITES ).

The Hyacinth Macaw is protected by law in Brazil and Bolivia, and commercial export is banned by its listing on Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species ( CITES ).

Reportedly, Myanmar has never granted an export permit, meaning most captive bred are originally from illegal tortoises, or imports grandfathered in prior to the CITES listing.

It is protected with a listing on Appendix I of CITES, which prohibits international trade of listed wild-caught species.

Beginning in 1989, CITES began allowing Asian arowanas to be traded, provided certain criteria were met, most notably that they were bred in captivity on a fish farm for at least two generations.

The convention was opened for signature in 1973, and CITES entered into force on 1 July 1975.

Only one species protected by CITES, the Spix's Macaw, has possibly become extinct in the wild as a result of trade since the Convention entered into force ( but see case studies in Hutton and Dickinson and Stiles for further discussion of the role CITES has played in the fate of particular species ).

As of 2002, 50 % of Parties lacked one or more of the four major requirements for a Party: designation of Management and Scientific Authorities ; laws prohibiting the trade in violation of CITES ; penalties for such trade ; laws providing for the confiscation of specimens.

Although the Convention itself does not provide for arbitration or dispute in the case of noncompliance, 30 years of CITES in practice has resulted in several strategies to deal with infractions by Parties.

The CITES Convention includes provisions and rules for trade with non-Parties.

No import permit is necessary for these species under CITES, although some Parties do require import permits as part of their stricter domestic measures.

Appendix III, about 170 species, are species that are listed after one member country has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling trade in a species.

While many developing countries have been eager to join CITES, the annual costs of staffing and maintaining a CITES office and an effective presence at the biennial CoP gatherings remain unaffordable for many signatory nations.

Moreover, the CITES Secretariat itself is largely dependent on signatories ' offices for determinations on whether the trade in a given species is " non-detrimental.