Geneva, 20 February 2025 — For the past 50 years, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has played a unique role in wildlife conservation by regulating wildlife trade, ensuring compliance through effective enforcement of the Convention, and combating and preventing wildlife crime. Given today's unprecedented and accelerating threats to wildlife, including those brought on by the triple planetary crisis, it has never been more pressing to regulate international trade in wildlife so that it’s sustainable and legal to ensure its survival in the wild.
This imperative was reaffirmed at the 78th meeting of the CITES Standing Committee (SC78), which took place from 3-8 February 2025, in Geneva, Switzerland. The meeting was among the most well-attended Standing Committee meetings in CITES history, with a record-breaking 594 participants and 110 registered observer organizations. As the Committee’s last meeting before the 20th meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties (CITES CoP20), to be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in November 2025, SC78 provided key insights into how Parties have progressed in the conservation, regulation of trade, combating wildlife crime, and strengthening the sustainability and traceability of the harvest and trade in CITES-listed species.
An overloaded agenda
Over the six days, the Committee tackled 82 of 87 agenda items, reviewed 127 working documents and 50 information documents, and held 18 in-session discussions. In response to the intense workload, time-saving measures such as shorter oral interventions and written submissions streamlined discussions. With the successful cooperation of SC Members and observers, most of the agenda items were discussed. A few, however, were sent to CoP20 directly without an agreement by SC.
CITES Host for the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP20) and Candidate Host for the 21st meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP21)
The meeting opened in a celebratory manner with the unveiling of the CoP20 logo by His Excellency, Mr. Aziz Abdukhakimov, Minister of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Panama, host of CITES CoP19 in December 2022, announced their candidacy to host again the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES, welcoming the Convention Parties and observers back to Panama City in 2028.
Strengthening CITES compliance
The Committee announced the lifting of the trade suspension on Emperor scorpion (Pandinus imperator) from Togo, which had been in place since 2013. The Committee also recognized the implementation of recommendations by Tanzania concerning African sandalwood (Osyris lanceolata), allowing the species/country combination to be removed from the Review of Significant Trade (RST) process.
Progress among countries under Article XIII processes was reported, including for Bangladesh, Cameroon, Ecuador, Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Madagascar, Nigeria, and Mexico. Additionally, six Parties—Andorra, Botswana, Lao PDR, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, and Uganda—adopted new legislation to enforce CITES regulations, bringing the total number of compliant Parties to 117 out of 185.
In her closing remarks, CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero said: “Compliance with the Convention remains central to your work. I am pleased to see the progress for those fulfilling their commitments and demonstrating clear advancements in effective implementation of the Convention for timber, bird, and marine species. We will continue to assist you in these efforts.”
Several discussions centered on the breeding of wild animals in captivity and the conservation implications of such practices. Future meetings, including a potential workshop on species not of wild origin, will explore these issues further. The captive breeding of long-tailed macaques also remained a critical topic of discussion, with continued trade suspensions in place for Lao PDR and an upcoming technical mission to Cambodia.
Enhancing enforcement to tackle wildlife crime
Enforcement matters and illegal trade in wildlife were again matters of significant discussion at SC78. This included addressing corruption, illicit financial flows from wildlife crime, wildlife crime linked to the Internet and numerous other matters under this subject. In this regard the Committee agreed to propose amendments to Resolution Conf. 17.6 (Rev. CoP19) on Prohibiting, preventing, detecting and countering corruption, which facilitates activities conducted in violation of the Convention, as well as to Resolution Conf. 11.3 (Rev. CoP19) on Compliance and enforcement.
Based on the outcomes of the CITES Task Force meeting on illegal trade in specimens of listed tree species, the Committee agreed to propose draft decisions to CoP20 to ensure continued focus on this matter. Support for Parties in West and Central Africa in combating wildlife crime was reinforced, with new proposed decisions directing the CITES Secretariat and its partners in the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) to enhance targeted assistance.
“The international community is increasingly recognizing the impacts of wildlife crime on nature and people,” remarked the Secretary-General. “International cooperation remains essential in our fight against wildlife crime. The excellent results of work undertaken by our Parties with support from ICCWC also give reason for optimism.”
Species-specific enforcement discussions covered issues such as trafficking of totoaba specimens. The Committee welcomed progress made by Mexico in implementing its compliance action plan and encouraged continued cooperation between China, Mexico, and the United States through the Trilateral Enforcement Contact Group (TECG). Additional recommendations were agreed upon to strengthen efforts against illegal trade in big cats, pangolins, seahorses, cheetahs, rhinoceroses, marine turtles, and other species.
Considerations for CoP20 on aquatic and tree species
The Committee discussed the Convention's first draft resolution on trade, conservation and management of anguillid eel species, which will be further deliberated on later this year at CoP20 in Uzbekistan.
A comprehensive set of draft decisions on sharks and rays were reviewed for consideration at CoP 20 including inputs to the Rapid guide for the making of legal acquisition findings. The inputs included evidence of legality along the chain of custody for marine species, the potential inclusion of catch locations in reporting and continued liaison with relevant regional fishery bodies and regional fisheries management organizations as well as FAO.
The Committee agreed to finalize the draft report on Brazilwood (Paubrasilia echinata) bows for consideration by the CoP together with a number of decisions relating to development of voluntary marking or identification systems and systems to register wood stockpiles.
Upon consideration of the report on the CITES Regional workshop on non-detriment findings (NDF) and legal acquisition findings (LAF) for West African Rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus), the Committee encouraged Parties to continue sharing experiences and best practices concerning NDFs and LAFs for the species in order to share knowledge and build capacity.
Looking ahead to CoP20 and beyond
As the final Standing Committee meeting before the 20th Conference of the Parties (CoP20) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in November 2025, SC78 laid the groundwork for the further discussions ahead. Despite the intensified programme of work, the meeting saw strengthened compliance with the Convention, progress in the fight against wildlife crime, and enhanced cooperation for ensuring the sustainability and legality of international wildlife trade. At CoP20, Parties will reconvene to establish the course of action for CITES-listed species over the next intersessional period.
CoP20 will also provide an opportunity to review the broader role of CITES in working in complementarity with other multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs), contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), and advancing the CITES Strategic Vision for a world where all international trade in wildlife is legal, sustainable, and traceable.
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About CITES
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was signed on 3 March 1973 and entered into force on 1 July 1975. With 185 Parties (184 countries + the European Union), it remains one of the world's most powerful tools for wildlife conservation through the regulation of international trade in over 40,900 species of wild animals and plants. CITES-listed species are used by people around the world in their daily lives for food, health care, furniture, housing, tourist souvenirs, cosmetics or fashion. CITES seeks to ensure that international trade in such species is sustainable, legal and traceable and contributes to both the livelihoods of the communities that live closest to them and to national economies for a healthy planet and the prosperity of the people in support of UN Sustainable Development Goals.
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