Given the CITES trade measures have never been enforced, the valid question is, has the CITES ever really been a regulator of the trade in wild species? That CITES is believed to be a regulator in not in doubt. In a briefing session, John Scanlon, who was Secretary General of CITES between 2010 and 2018 summarised the CITES this way, “CITES is a convention of the 1970s. It is focused on a very specific issue, in this case regulating international trade in wildlife to protect against over exploitation from international trade. [CITES Parties] have preferred to maintain the narrow focus of the convention”. He continued, “CITES regulates trade in certain species to ensure the trade is legal and [...]

Over the years of researching the CITES listed legal trade in wild species, periodically the question arose, “What if Jeff Bezos ran Amazon Inc. with the same supply chain processes as the CITES?”. Amazon Inc. is a perfect contrast of what can be achieved when it is in the business’ interest for supply chains to be well monitored. Amazon runs 175 fulfilment centres across the globe and stocks hundreds of millions of items, so the complexity of the trade is not the issue when it comes to real-time monitoring and tracking. In stark contrast, the CITES trade management processes, based on a 1970s paper-permit system, is what happens when businesses would rather keep you in the dark about [...]

No stakeholder is interested in validating the sustainable use model that the CITES is purportedly based on. After 50 years of the CITES, there is still no way to validate if the trade this regulator manages is sustainable. Businesses and industries know genuine validation of sustainable use of wild species would threaten their profits and is likely to reduce access to the ‘raw materials’ they need for production. After seafood, fashion and furniture are the biggest users of these ‘raw materials’. Governments know that validating the sustainable use model would challenge their ‘economic growth at all costs’ mindset because a transparent and precise assessment of the current scale of extraction would undoubtedly mean a reduction in trade. [...]

The convention cannot deliver anything for wild species until the funding crisis is solved. For decades the CITES has been an ineffective regulator due to its impoverished state. Submissions to CITES CoP 20 detail that the contributions due to the CITES for 2025 are US$6.6 million, but to-date only $3.3 million have been received. That’s means another US$3.3 million are outstanding plus an additional $1.4 million in unpaid contributions from prior years. What makes this both tragic and ridiculous is that that the CITES trade is primarily for the luxury markets, with fashion and furniture being the biggest users of wild species after seafood. In 2016, a European Parliament Report acknowledged that “The wildlife trade is one of [...]

In a 2024 article, On Climate Week and Toxic Positivity, journalist Amy Westervelt, said, “the focus on positivity to the exclusion of anything else felt completely surreal and, if I’m being honest, a little scary….seeing so many climate leaders demand positivity, and only positivity, was more than a little unnerving”. In the world of conservation, phantom solutions and incrementalist actions to deal with biodiversity loss are even called ‘nature positive’, an equally surreal and completely meaningless term. I don’t meet many conservationists who I would say can embrace and deal with conservation’s Stockdale Paradox. Inspired by Admiral James Stockdale’s survival of seven years in a North Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, the Stockdale Paradox combines the ability to [...]

Two tragic things happened in the last month and taken together they highlight the lack of courage global conservation organisations and academics have shown in both exposing, and trying to fix, the structural weaknesses of the system that regulates the global, industrial trade in over 40,000 endangered and exotic species. First, in a submission document to CITES CoP20, the organisation’s leadership acknowledges, “The current mode of work is no longer viable”, continuing, “The time for action is now, to safeguard the Convention’s integrity and effectiveness”. A concern that Nature Needs More contacted the CITES leadership about in 2018. The second is that well-known global conservation organisations have lent their brands to help small, private sector entities [...]

Photo by Rafael Ishkhanyan on Unsplash The CITES, which came into force in July 1975, was born out of a set of assumptions and a geopolitical prospective that reflect the 1960s. As the world changed drastically from the late 1970s CITES didn’t, the articles of the convention have stayed the same. CITES has had only one strategic review in its 50-year history, back in 1994, which also didn’t result in any significant changes. This lack of evolution goes someway to explaining how ineffective the convention is today. Key to the staggering inertia is that the mindset of the academics, NGOs and IGOs, who could have lobbied the convention’s government signatories to evolve with a changing world, are also [...]

A key part of the marketing strategy of luxury apparel and accessories is that there is a “story behind” the item you buy, “it has a history”. Well, the story and history behind the luxury trade that uses endangered and exotic species as raw materials for bags, shoes, jackets, and accessories, is one of unchecked exploitation. This has only accelerated with the emergence of the superfake. Periodically, the scandal of superfakes hits the news. In 2023, a national fashion editor in Australia wrote, “The lump in my throat grew larger as I recalled my friend’s instructions. From the lift, count five shops to the left; if you hit the yum cha restaurant, you’ve gone too far. [...]

It seems like barely a day goes by without at least one article, somewhere in the world, highlighting the problems associated with the exotic pet trade (EPT). Live animals seized at airports, population decline of species popular in the trade, social media’s role, the torture of animals for followers, the staggering mortality rates in and trauma in the supply chains. This is a scandal on a global scale and a scandal that currently shows no signs of being stopped. Why? Because, as with all other forms of overextraction of wild species for profit, key suspects are taken out of the frame. Too few inroads have been made, and will be made, in dealing with the lack [...]

Over the years there have been examples of social behaviour change campaigns (SBCC) that have changed consumer purchasing decisions quickly. The most broadly recognisable are the anti-smoking campaigns. These graphic campaigns were mostly run on health anxiety, once the link between smoking and cancer had been firmly established both scientifically and in the public’s mind. From a wildlife conservation perspective, maybe the best known SBCC is the 1980s Lynx (now Respect for Animals) ‘Dumb Animal’ billboard and cinema advertising campaign, reducing consumer demand for fur. These campaigns also used graphic images, but they were based on status anxiety, not health anxiety. Key to their effectiveness is that they focus on the actual user of the product, the ‘rich [...]