![]() It prohibits international trade of species for commercial purposes due to the high level of threat that trade poses to their survival, while Appendix II regulates the trade of species (including lookalike species) that aren’t currently threatened with extinction, but which could become so if trade in those species is not controlled. The two most significant Appendices a species can be listed on are Appendix I and II. One of the most important aspects of CITES is that it has three Appendices in which a species can be listed, each of which correlates with a different level of regulatory protection. Consequently, CITES is one of most important environmental treaties in the world, with states regulating trade for more than 38,000 endangered or imperiled species. While the first text of the convention was agreed upon by 80 countries in 1973, CITES has now grown to include 184 countries, each of which has entered a legally-binding agreement to implement CITES. Since entering into force in 1975 in Washington, DC, the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has worked to address these issues, in part, by better regulating international wildlife trade. That includes, perhaps most famously, COVID-19, which caused the most severe public health crisis since the Spanish flu in 1918.Ĭlearly, the lack of effective regulation of international wildlife trade, as well as illegal trade, are a threat to people and animals alike, contributing to a mounting biodiversity crisis and posing an international threat to public health. In fact, approximately 60 percent of known infectious diseases and up to three-quarters of new or emerging diseases, originated in animals¹. The reason is that many infectious diseases come from animals and spread to humans, due in part to the type of interactions among wildlife, livestock and people that international demand for wildlife facilitates through trade. Wildlife trade has also proven disastrous from a public health perspective. The revenue generated from animal tourism is immense-even an individual shark, for example, can bring in millions of dollars from tourism-while poaching produces relatively little revenue, representing an immense opportunity cost for countless groups across the world. The decline of animal species, particularly those that are iconic in a particular region or country, has imposed severe economic costs on the communities these animals come from. Imperiled species are not the only ones suffering. The results have proven disastrous: millions of species have been pushed to extinction, while many more, including jaguars, oceanic whitetip sharks and sea turtles, are struggling for survival. The illicit trade in wildlife has also been growing, with estimates of unlawful profits reaching billions of dollars. Without adequate enforcement or regulatory oversight, poachers, traders, buyers and other actors have long-been able to recklessly exploit wild species and sell them overseas. One of the most enduring causes of the biodiversity crisis is the overexploitation of wild species, which is fueled by international demand. At the time of writing, the complete eradication of thousands of creatures is imminent, representing an irreversible loss of biodiversity for the planet. That unimaginable reality can be attributed to human intervention, with habitat loss, direct exploitation of species, climate change, pollution and invasive species all contributing to the crisis. Scientists estimate 1 million species worldwide are currently at risk of being lost forever. Hundreds of species have been confirmed extinct in the past decades, while estimates of unconfirmed extinctions place the number in the thousands. ![]() Without a doubt, we are currently teetering on the edge of the sixth mass extinction.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |