CBD vs CITES: Protecting Biodiversity and Regulating Wildlife Trade

Two treaties anchor international wildlife and biodiversity law. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), 1973 has a narrow, focused aim: to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 1992 has a broad, framework aim: to conserve all biodiversity, use it sustainably and share its benefits fairly. CITES is a trade control treaty; the CBD is a comprehensive conservation treaty. India is party to both and implements them through the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Biological Diversity Act, 2002.

1. Convention on Biological Diversity

The CBD was opened for signature at the Rio Earth Summit on 5 June 1992 and entered into force on 29 December 1993. It has three objectives (Article 1): conservation of biological diversity, sustainable use of its components, and fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources. It recognises the sovereign rights of States over their biological resources (Article 15), requires national strategies and action plans (Article 6), in situ and ex situ conservation (Articles 8 and 9), EIA (Article 14), and protection of traditional knowledge (Article 8(j)). It has two protocols: the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000, on living modified organisms) and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (2010, in force 2014). The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (COP15, December 2022) set 23 targets for 2030, including 30 by 30 (protecting thirty per cent of land and sea). COP16 at Cali (2024) agreed a fund for benefits from digital sequence information. India implements the CBD through the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 (amended 2023), with its NBA, SBBs and BMCs.

2. CITES

CITES was signed in Washington on 3 March 1973 and entered into force on 1 July 1975; India joined in 1976. It regulates international trade (export, re-export, import and introduction from the sea) in listed species through a system of permits and certificates, arranged in three Appendices:

• Appendix I: species threatened with extinction (tiger, Asiatic lion, elephant populations, pangolins); commercial trade is essentially prohibited, and both export and import permits are needed;
• Appendix II: species not necessarily threatened but which may become so unless trade is controlled; trade needs an export permit based on a non-detriment finding; and
• Appendix III: species protected in at least one party that has asked others for cooperation in controlling trade.

Each party designates a Management Authority and a Scientific Authority. In India, the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 incorporated CITES directly: it added Chapter VB (Sections 49E to 49M) on regulation of trade under CITES and Schedule IV listing CITES specimens, with the Director of Wildlife Preservation as Management Authority. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and customs enforce it.

3. Key Differences

4. Relationship

The two treaties are complementary: CITES addresses one threat (over-exploitation through trade), while the CBD addresses all threats (habitat loss, invasive species, pollution, climate change) and adds equity through benefit sharing. They cooperate through the Biodiversity Liaison Group and the GBF (Target 5 on sustainable and legal use and trade of wild species). In India, the WPA and the BD Act mirror this division, and both are aided by Article 48A and Article 51A(g). In Centre for Environmental Law, WWF-India v. Union of India (2013), the Supreme Court emphasised species protection and an ecocentric approach.

5. Related Topics and Provisions