Air Date: Week of September 18, 1998

This week, facts about... CITES , the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the largest wildlife treaty in the world, enjoying its twenty-fifth anniversary this month.

Transcript

CURWOOD: The straw-headed bulbul, the beluga sturgeon, and the hairy armadillo have one thing in common. All are species recently protected under CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The CITES agreement is enjoying its 25th anniversary this month. It's the largest wildlife treaty in the world, and the only one regulating the trade in rhino horns, song birds, medicinal plants, and the like. So far, 143 nations have signed onto it. CITES has had mixed success in protecting the world's most vulnerable species. Take the Asian tiger. In parts of Asia, tiger bones and other tiger parts are still used in traditional medicines and ceremonies. And in the United States, the use of natural medicines containing tiger bones has quintupled in the last 5 years. But to its credit, CITES has brought global political pressure to bear on the international ivory trade, helping to replenish populations of the African elephant. And for this week, that's the Living on Earth Almanac.