eCITES: Transforming Global Wildlife Trade Management | CITES
By CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero – 14 September 2023 We have all witnessed how rapidly digitalization has progressed in recent years and I am excited
We have all witnessed how rapidly digitalization has progressed in recent years and I am excited to share with you how CITES is embracing the digital age. Major progress has been made by Parties, the Secretariat, and its partners on the electronic CITES permitting system (eCITES).
Did you know that more than 97 per cent of species listed in the CITES Appendices are allowed to be commercially traded under a permitting system? Carrying the responsibility of regulating international trade in more than 40,000 species of plants and animals, CITES mandates that specimens of species listed in the CITES Appendices must have official trade documentation such as permits and certificates. Unfortunately, problems can arise with the use of paper documentation, including fraudulent use, laborious manual permitting procedures, lack of access to trade and transaction information and weak collaboration between actors.
Complications in keeping track of documents during issuance, transportation, and verification could result in forged paper documents. This may involve declaring false information, altering documents, reusing them, or even theft. Corruption can play a role in the prevalence of forged documents. There also have been cases where lost paper permits were used illegally due to delays in reporting and the extended duration of subsequent notifications among Parties.
Continue Reading
