One elephant species sits on two different lists of the wildlife trade treaty
Under CITES, the global treaty policing trade in wild plants and animals, African bush elephants from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe get lighter protection than those everywhere else in Africa. The treaty sorts more than 40,900 species and populations into three tiers, and sometimes splits one species between them country by country.
CITES, also called the Washington Convention, traces back to a 1963 resolution by members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Representatives of 80 countries finalised its text in Washington in March 1973, and it took effect on 1 July 1975 after the tenth ratification. By June 2025 it had 185 parties, including the European Union. Only a handful of UN members stay outside, among them North Korea, Haiti, South Sudan and several Pacific island states.
Its method is paperwork. Every covered specimen crossing a border needs a permit or certificate, and 'specimen' stretches from a live animal to cosmetics or traditional medicines containing a listed species. Trade need not involve money. Each country appoints management authorities to issue permits and scientific authorities to judge whether trade harms a species, and must pass its own laws to enforce the rules, which it may make stricter.
The three appendices set the level of control. Appendix I covers species threatened with extinction, such as tigers, red pandas, snow leopards and the monkey puzzle tree, and bans commercial trade in wild-caught specimens. Appendix II, which holds the vast majority of listings, requires export permits for species like the great white shark, green iguana and American ginseng, and can include lookalikes of protected species. Appendix III lets a single country request help, as Costa Rica did for Hoffmann's two-toed sloth. Main listings change at meetings held about every three years.
The treaty's priorities have shifted with money. It began by tackling Western demand for luxury furs, then turned toward goods such as ivory and rhinoceros horn as Asian wealth grew. It now also covers thousands of species once considered safe, such as manta rays. Ivonne Higuero of Panama, the first woman to lead its secretariat, held the post as of December 2024.
Source: CITES
