Media information: WWF guide to CITES 2004

The wildlife trade is big business, with a global annual turnover estimated at billions of dollars and involving hundreds of millions of individual plants and animals. Plants and animals taken from the wild are traded both legally and illegally for food, medicines, building materials (such as timber), clothing, souvenirs, charms, carvings, and pets.
 
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was established in response to concerns that many species were becoming endangered because of international trade. The convention entered into force in 1975, and three decades later is the world’s largest, and perhaps most effective, international wildlife conservation agreement. It currently regulates the trade of some 30,000 wild animal and plant species.
 
At this year’s Conference of the Parties (CoP13) from 2–14 October in Bangkok, Thailand, CITES Parties will discuss 48 species and species groups involved in international trade, including fish, giant clams, snakes, and trees. This advisory gives brief information on WWF’s priorities at the meeting:

Ramin — a valuable tropical timber threatened by illegal logging and trade 
 
Humphead wrasse — threatened by the live reef fish food trade 
 
Great white shark — killed for jaws, teeth, fins, and skin

Northern minke whale — Japan wants to allow commercial trade
 
Irrawaddy dolphin — caught for dolphinaria
 
Saiga antelope — threatened by poaching for meat and horns

African elephant — Namibia wants an annual export quota of 2,000kg of raw ivory and approval for commercial trade in worked ivory, leather, and hair goods; South Africa wants approval for commercial trade.