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In 2017, when Nature Needs More decided that the illegal trade in wild species couldn’t be decisively tackled until the legal trade system under the CITES was modernised, we stumbled on the historic consideration of moving the CITES to a revise listing system.

For clarity, under the CITES model established...

Finally, some good news coming out of the CITES. In the days leading up to the start of CoP20, the map highlighting which countries are moving away from the obsolete 1970s paper permit system has been updated.

It would have been frankly ridiculous for the CITES to reach its 50th...

Nature Need More can with 100% certainty state that there is No Chance of achieving the CITES Strategic Vision 2030. Equally, there is No Chance of achieving the KMGBF Target 5 by 2030. Why do we say this? Because neither body is making any substantive effort to achieve a transparent,...

Plenty of conventions and IGOs deal with the rights of people, poverty and development; The World Bank and UNCTAD were created for this very purpose. So why, when there are so few that focus on non-human species does the corporate conservation sector and conservation academics want to bring these considerations...

The illusion and delusion of the supposed CITES effectiveness must end. While a modern and well-funded CITES is desperately needed, the convention cannot survive in its current state because it has long failed in its stated objective of protecting endangered species from overexploitation through international trade.

Over decades the CITES...

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...

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’...

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...

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...

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 years I have been researching the live trade in wild species, with a particular focus on the species listed by the CITES convention, what constantly amazes me is how obviously the system is flawed and yet how little action or apparent interest there is in seeing this improved....

If any profession should have the loudest voice on issues of animal welfare and species conservation, it’s the veterinary profession. We are the ones who in many cases take an oath to care for animals, who dedicate our lives to their wellbeing. But are we, as a profession, truly living...