Current Affair 1:

News:

KAZA states, who hold a combined 227,000 elephants – more than half the total African population – are holding a summit in Zambia and have urged CITES to allow more ivory and elephant sales.

As per the KAZA ivory trade was a key part of the country’s conservation plan. They want lifting of the ban on ivory trade at the 20th meeting of the Conference of Parties (CoP20) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Trade in ivory was internationally banned in 1989, when CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) Parties listed the African elephant on Appendix I.

 

About KAZA:

Kavango-Zambezi Trans-Frontier Conservation Area (KAZA-TFCA) lies in the Kavango and Zambezi River basins where Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe converge.

 

 

About CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora)

It is an international agreement between governments. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.

Why CITES was needed?

If I ask you one question, CITES was formed to restrict the international trade, what will be your answer.

The answer is NO. Because it was mainly needed to regulate the trade, NOT RESTICT.

Parties of the Convention

CITES is an international agreement to which States and regional economic integration organizations adhere voluntarily. States that have agreed to be bound by the Convention ('joined' CITES) are known as Parties.

Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties – in other words they have to implement the Convention – it does not take the place of national laws. Rather it provides a framework to be respected by each Party, which has to adopt its own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at the national level.

India ratified CITES in July, 1976 and entered to force in October 1976.

 

<< Previous Next >>