UNEP-managed CITES database reveals red sanders smuggling

UNEP-managed CITES database reveals red sanders smuggling

Subject :Environment

Section :International conventions

Context: The CITES trade database has recorded 28 incidents of Red Sanders confiscation, seizure, and specimen from the wild being exported from India, a factsheet prepared by TRAFFIC, a global wildlife trade monitoring organisation has revealed.

Red Sanders:

• Pterocarpus santalinus, or red sandalwood, is an endemic tree species with distribution restricted to the Eastern Ghats of India.
• They are found in Tropical Dry Deciduous forest of the Palakonda and Seshachalam hill ranges of Andhra Pradesh and also found in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
• The species found growing up to a height of 10 to 15 metres.
• Red Sanders is a very slow-growing tree species that attains maturity in natural forests after 25-40 years.
• Red Sanders usually grow in the rocky, degraded and fallow lands with Red Soil and hot and dry climate.
• Under the foreign trade policy of India, the import of Red Sanders is prohibited, while export is restricted.
• Red sanders is reported to be one of India’s most exploited tree species, and is under severe pressure from illegal logging and harvesting.
• Its heartwood is in demand in both domestic and international markets and is used to make furniture and handicrafts, while the red dye obtained from the wood is used as a colouring agent in textiles and medicines.
• Conservation status
  • Listed under Schedule IV of The Wildlife Protection Act
  • Endangered as per IUCN Red List
  • Falls in Appendix II of CITES.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora

• CITES is an international agreement to which States and regional economic integration organizations adhere voluntarily.
• Aim: Ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival.
• It was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.
• The CITES Secretariat is administered by UNEP (The United Nations Environment Programme) and is located at Geneva, Switzerland.
• It plays a coordinating, advisory and servicing role in the working of the Convention (CITES).
• The Conference of the Parties to CITES, is the supreme decision-making body of the Convention and comprises all its Parties.
• Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties, 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.

Functions

• The 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 authorized 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.
• Appendices I, II and III to the Convention are lists of species afforded different levels or types of protection from over-exploitation.
• Appendix I
• It lists species that are the most endangered among CITES-listed animals and plants.
• They are threatened with extinction and CITES prohibits international trade in specimens of these species except when the purpose of the import is not commercial, for instance for scientific research.
• In these exceptional cases, trade may take place provided it is authorized by the granting of both an import permit and an export permit (or re-export certificate).
• Appendix II
• It lists species that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled.
• International trade in specimens of Appendix-II species may be authorized by the granting of an export permit or re-export certificate.
• No import permit is necessary for these species under CITES (although a permit is needed in some countries that have taken stricter measures than CITES requires).
• Appendix III
• It is a list of species included at the request of a Party that already regulates trade in the species and that needs the cooperation of other countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal exploitation.
• International trade in specimens of species listed in this Appendix is allowed only on presentation of the appropriate permits or certificates.

TRAFFIC (Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce)

• TRAFFIC is a leading non-governmental organisation working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
• It is a joint program of WWF and IUCN.
• TRAFFIC works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature.
• TRAFFIC has gained its greatest reputation from supporting CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
• TRAFFIC focuses on leveraging resources, expertise and awareness of the latest globally urgent species trade issues such as tiger parts, elephant ivory and rhino horn.
• Large scale commercial trade in commodities like timber and fisheries products are also addressed and linked to work on developing rapid results and policy improvements.