DUSHANBE, June 24, 2015 Asia-Plus – Tajikistan has ratified the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Deputies of Tajikistan’s lower house (Majlisi Namoyandagon) today unanimously voted for ratification of the Convention.
Speaking at the session, the head of the Committee for Environmental Protection under the Government of Tajikistan, Khairullo Ibodzoda, noted that the second edition of Tajikistan’s Red Data Book (a state document established for documenting rare and endangered species of animals, plants and fungi that exist within the territory of Tajikistan) would be published soon.
The book reportedly contains lists of 269 species of plants and 241 species of animals existing in Tajikistan.
“After ratification of the Convention, Tajikistan will have the right to grant licenses for trading in wild animals and wild plants and to transit them,” Ibodzoda noted.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), also known as the Washington Convention, is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals. 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). The convention was opened for signature in 1973, and CITES entered into force after the 10th ratification by a signatory country, on July 1, 1975. Its aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species in the wild, and it accords varying degrees of protection to more than 35,000 species of animals and plants. In order to ensure that the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was not violated, the Secretariat of GATT was consulted during the drafting process. CITES is one of the largest and oldest conservation and sustainable use agreements in existence.
