About CITES

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international agreement between governments (multilateral treaty) which aims to ensure the survival of endangered populations, or populations threatened with becoming endangered due to overexploitation. This is done by regulating and monitoring the international trade of specimens (alive, dead, stuffed, product of, or derivative of, any species listed under CITES). 

The Convention came into force on 1 July 1975 following the adoption of a draft resolution in 1963 at the Meeting of Members of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). 

As of today (2022), there are 183 states which are Parties (members)  to CITES. Becoming a Party to CITES is a legally binding agreement but the Convention does not set laws to be enforced, it instead provides a framework for its implementation which Parties can voluntarily adopt into their own national legislation accordingly.  

The full text of the convention can be found here (CITES Conv Text.pdf)” + (https://cites.org/eng/disc/text.php ).

Species that fall under CITES, or CITES-listed species, are categorised in 3 different Appendices which refer to their threat status, and so the degree of control and protection regulating them. The interpretation of each Appendices can be found here: (E-Appendices-2021-06-22.pdf) + https://cites.org/eng/app/appendices.php

And  are summarised below:

Appendix I 

Species with the strictest regulations due to their status of being endangered and threatened with extinction.  CITES prohibits the trade in Appendix-I specimens for commercial purposes (i.e., possible permission granted in trade for other purposes such as scientific research). The import of an Appendix-I specimen requires both a re/export certificate (issued by the re/exporting country) AND an import permit (issued by the importing country.)

Appendix II

Species that face the risk of becoming threatened with extinction if trade controls and regulations are not improved. Unlike Appendix-I specimens, Appendix-II specimens only require a re/export certificate (an import permit is not necessary unless the importing country’s legislation requires it). 

Appendix III

Species that have been included in CITES per the request of a Party (listing Party) that wants to safeguard the population of these species and so requests cooperation of other Parties. Specimens of Appendix-III species are therefore not regulated or protected by all Parties. 

As of 2022, over 38,700 species are listed in the Appendices and are protected by CITES which includes approximately 5,950 species of animals and 32,8000 species of plants. An approximate breakdown of the number of fauna and flora in the Appendices can be found here:
https://cites.org/eng/disc/species.php#:~:text=Over%2038%2C700%20species%20%E2%80%93%20including%20roughly,in%20the%20three%20CITES%20Appendices.)

All the CITES-listed species and their Appendices can be found via: https://checklist.cites.org/#/en

The good news is that the conservation movement is not dead in the water. All countries in the Arabian Sea area are signatory to at least one of either the Convention of Migratory Species (CMS), the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the Conservation of Migratory Sharks or the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) – all of which award a degree of protection to sharks. Moreover, earlier this month, three species of thresher sharks (all of which have been identified in the neighbouring waters of the Arabian Sea), the silky shark and nine species of ray were awarded greater protection under CITES. 

Meanwhile, in the UAE, one initiative stands out as champion of shark conservation across the region: The Gulf Elasmo Project. The project (named after the scientific term given to the group of cartilaginous fish species including sharks, rays and chimaeras) was born from the PhD thesis of the project’s front-runner, Dr. Rima Jabado. It aims at gaining a better understanding of elasmobranch species, abundances and distribution in the Arabian/Persian Gulf and neighbouring waters. During her initial study Dr. Jabado found at least 29 species of shark exist in the area. 

The regulation and monitoring of the international trade of endangered species is primarily conducted and achieved by the CITES permitting system. It allows for a traceable transaction of the trade including information such as the quantity being traded, countries involved in the trade, the source of the species (was it caught from the wild? Is it Captive-bred? From an Unknown source?) among other information. 

The permitting system also provides data for the exporting countries to monitor and assess the utilisation of their endemic species, and/or their products and derivatives, while also creating an extra obstacle in the form of “extra steps” (i.e., obtaining a permit or certificate) which can discourage illegal trade.

The Kingdom of Bahrain ratified (CITES) as the 176th Member State in Law No. (27) of (2012) approving Bahrain’s accession to the Convention.
(Law 27 of 2012 Accession to CITES.pdf) and link here: https://www.legalaffairs.gov.bh/HTM/K2712.htm OR https://www.legalaffairs.gov.bh/PDF/K2712.pdf  ) 

More recently, Bahrain issued Law No. (5) of (2021) Regarding the Management of Global Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(Law No. (5) of (2021).pdf) and link here: https://www.legalaffairs.gov.bh/HTM/K0521.htm OR https://www.legalaffairs.gov.bh/PDF/K0521.pdf  )
which covers Bahrain’s CITES permitting system, including the application process, the associated fees, procedure at customs and response to illegal trade and its associated punishments. 

In 2022, Bahrain released a CITES Notification to Parties to inform the Secretariat and the Parties about Bahrain’s development and use of an electronic permitting system (e-CITES) which has been active since October 2020; making Bahrain the  first country in the GCC to transition from a manual to digital CITES system. The Notification highlights the features employed in Bahrain’s eCITES system and database, you can find the notification here (CITES Notification to Parties_2022_02.pdf) or https://cites.org/eng/node/129997 ). 

For more information on the eCITES permitting system in Bahrain, and how to obtain a permit or certificate, see bnature’s Environmental Permits page.