About the Convention
Long description for Figure 1
CITES Structure: Conference of the Parties; Standing Committee; Animals Commitee; Plants Commitee; CITES Secretariat; UNEP.
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), is an international agreement between governments with the aim to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival in the wild. It is a Convention of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Currently CITES includes more than 170 member states called Parties. Canada was the 10 th country to ratify the Convention which came into effect in July, 1975.
The Conference of the Parties (CoP) is the ultimate decision-making body. It is attended every three years by delegations from the Parties. The CoP decides on amendments to be made to the Appendices based on species conservation status and trade information, and addresses issues related to implementation of the Convention.
Other committees, such as the Standing Committee, the Animals Committee and the Plants Committee, meet to ensure continuity of the work as directed by the CoP and to evaluate the conservation needs of the CITES animals and plants species.
The CITES Secretariat, based in Geneva, Switzerland, plays a coordinating, advisory and servicing role in the working of the Convention.
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