EIA research reveals that at least twenty-four Chinese pharmaceutical companies have been listing leopard bones as an ingredient in their traditional medicines, although there are fewer than 450 wild leopards left in that country.
There is no escaping the fact that countries from which wild tigers have been wiped out or virtually wiped out in recent years – Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and China – are countries where the tiger has been valued solely for the sum of its body parts.
These resolutions, decisions and recommendations demonstrate that CITES Parties have agreed on a mandate to address domestic trade issues, including legal and illegal domestic trade, in certain circumstances. Below is a non-exhaustive list of examples of such recommendations adopted by the CoP.
After over five years of Article XIII proceedings, the CITES Standing Committee should consider finally suspending trade with Laos
The illegal trade in totoaba fish maws is rapidly driving the vaquita marina to extinction. This small rare porpoise endemic to Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California is collateral damage in the pursuit of huge profits by organised criminal networks that sell totoaba swim bladders in Asian markets, primarily China.
Ahead of the 18th Conference of the Parties (CoP18) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), EIA has prepared comments and recommendations on listing proposals and working documents (as available at the time of writing)