CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species)

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora was signed at Washington D.C. in 1973 and entered into force in 1975. India acceded in 1976. Unlike habitat-protection treaties, CITES targets the trade route itself: it does not stop a species from being hunted or collected within a country, but it obligates member states to control and, in the most serious cases, prohibit cross-border commercial movement of that species or its parts. The Convention operates through three Appendices, each carrying a different level of trade restriction. Appendix I covers species threatened with extinction, for which international commercial trade is prohibited except in narrowly defined circumstances such as scientific research. Appendix II covers species not currently threatened with extinction but for which trade must be closely controlled to avoid their becoming so, and it is by far the largest of the three lists. Appendix III covers species that at least one member country has already protected domestically and for which it has asked other parties for cooperation in controlling trade. Governance runs through a Secretariat administered under the United Nations Environment Programme, with the Conference of the Parties (CoP) meeting roughly every two to three years to review and reclassify species. In India, CITES obligations are given domestic legal effect chiefly through the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and through EXIM trade policy provisions administered by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.

• 1 Signed at Washington D.C. in 1973; entered into force in 1975.
• 2 India acceded to the Convention in 1976.
• 3 Appendix I: species threatened with extinction; commercial international trade prohibited except in exceptional circumstances.
• 4 Appendix II: species not currently threatened but requiring controlled trade to prevent future threat; the largest of the three Appendices.
• 5 Appendix III: species protected in at least one country, which has sought other parties' cooperation on trade control.
• 6 Administered by a Secretariat under UNEP; decisions taken at the Conference of the Parties (CoP).
• 7 CITES regulates trade, not domestic hunting or habitat loss; it is complementary to, not a substitute for, protected-area law.
• 8 In India, domestic effect flows mainly through the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, distinct from the non-binding IUCN Red List.
• 9 Neofelis nebulosa, the clouded leopard, is listed in Appendix I.

India's Clouded Leopard Conservation Action Plan notes that Neofelis nebulosa is a CITES Appendix I species, meaning international commercial trade in the animal or its parts is prohibited, reinforcing its Schedule I status under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.