India has been removed from Review of Significant Trade (RST) for Red Sanders, under Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). 

The 77th meeting of the Standing Committee of CITES was held in Geneva, Switzerland from November 6 to 10.

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.

CITES RST process

• The Red Sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus) is a high market value tree, endemic to few districts in Andhra Pradesh. It has been listed in Appendix II under CITES since 1994.

• The species has been subjected to threats of illegal harvesting and smuggling leading to their depletion from natural forest. However, Red Sanders wood sourced from artificially propagation (plantations) comprise a major part of legal export. 

• The Red Sanders species was listed for Review of Significant Trade (RST) process more or less since 2004. 

• The CITES RST process enables disciplinary action in the form of trade suspensions directed at countries that do not meet their obligations. 

• This is a process through which the CITES Standing Committee places increased scrutiny on the exports of a species from a country to determine if the Convention is being properly implemented. 

• The CITES RST process enables disciplinary action in the form of trade suspensions directed at countries that do not meet their obligations.

• In the past, it has even led to a recommendation to suspend trade with India.

• India had been updating the CITES Secretariat on the status of export of Red Sanders from India.

• The removal of Red Sanders from RST process from India was unconditional. 

• This will help the farmers growing Red Sanders to increase their income through cultivation and export of Red Sanders from the plantations.  It would also help in motivating farmers to grow more red sanders trees as a source of sustainable income.

India placed in Category 1

• The CITES Standing Committee has now decided to place India in Category 1 as it had fully complied with the requirements of CITES National Legislation programme. 

• The CITES provides that every Party aligns its national legislation to accommodate CITES provisions. India was listed in Category 2 for CITES National Legislation programme. 

• The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 was, therefore, amended in the year 2022, wherein the provisions of CITES was incorporated in the Act.

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