WSP03664 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

002H6 CITES: The ESA and International Trade Carlo A. Balistrieri One of the greatest delusions i7l the world is the hope that euils i7l this world are to be cured by legislatio7l. -Thomas B. Reed Address to the House of Representatives (1886) The twentieth anniversary of the Endan- gered Species Act (ESA) , 16 U.S.c. ~~ 1531- 44 (1988). being celebrated this year, is shared by a little known but equally important inter. national conservation measure known as the Convention on International Trade in Endan- gered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The signing of CITES in 1973 culminated over a decade of formal international discussion that began at the 1960 meeting of the general as. sembly of the International Union for Conser- vation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN). The concern at that time was that high levels of trade in wild animals, along with alarming loss of habitat, threatened the survival of many spe. cies. In 1963 the mCN passed a resolution call- ing for the adoption of an international convention to regulate trade in endangered wildlife species. Several draft resolutions for that purpose were prepared between 1963 and 1972, when a recommendation was formulated at the United Nations Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. In response to that recommendation, eighty-eight countries met in early 1973 to discuss a proposal for a conven- tion. In March I 973-neariy ten years after the IUCN resolution-twenry.one countries signed CITES, which is also known abroad as the Wash. ington Convention. Two years later, on July I, 1975, CITES was enacted after ten nations in- ternally ratified the actions of their .conference representatives. First, the origins of CITES and its major pro. visions are explained; then some of the prob- lems the signatory countries have experienced with CITES and its relationship to the ESA are addressed. [ssues are identified in connection with administration and enforcement of the treaty that need to be resolved if its overarching objectives are (0 be achieved. CITES ami Domestic Legislation While the world was discussing interna- tional trade in endangered species, the United States was examining ways [0 protect endan- gered and threatened species with domestic leg. islation. Congress enacted laws in 1966, 1969, and 1973, which, along with their subsequent amendments, disclosed an evolving national at- titude toward endangered species that prompted the United States' subsequent involvement in CITES. The history of United States legislation con- cerning the protection of endangered species is an important first step in understanding CITES and the means by which the federal government interprets and enforces the convention. Because the ESA is the enabling legislation for CITES, its language and history are important tools for ex- amining U.S. policy on international endan- gered species protection and U.S. involvement in CITES' regulation of trade in endangered wildlife. The Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 afforded limited protection to endan- gered wildlife. The "First Endangered Species Act," as it is often referred to, directed the Sec. retary of the Department of the Interior (001) to "carry out a program in the United States of conserving, protecting, restoring and propagat. ing selected species of native fish and wildlife." It was intended (0 protect those species of na- tive wildlife that were "threatened with extinc- tion." The Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1969 expanded the application of the first statute and, in response to concerns of over- exploitation and the IUCN's 1963 resolution, called for the convening of an international ministerial meeting to create a "binding inter- national convention on the conservation of en- dangered species." In addition, the 1968 Act required that the Secretary's determination be "based on the best scientific and commercial data available" (emphasis added), thus rein. forcing the notion that trade could be a con- tributing factor to the problems faced by many species. Significantly, this statute also created an exemption to the general prohibition against the importation of endangered wildlife by au. thorizing importation "for zoological, educa- tion, and scientific purposes" and "for ... NR&E/SUMMER 1993 Mr. Balistrieri is a sole practitioner special/zing in CITES and endangered species law it' Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 33