New rules to regulate exotic animal trade

New rules to regulate exotic animal trade

Part of: GS Prelims and Mains III – Environment and Biodiversity; Endangered Species

In news:

• Environment Ministry’s wildlife division has introduced new rules to regulate the import and export of ‘exotic wildlife species’.
• Under the new rules, owners and possessors of such animals and birds must register their stock with the Chief Wildlife Warden of their States.
• Wildlife Department officials have the right to inspect the facilities of such traders to check if these plants and animals are being housed in healthy conditions.

Do you know?

• ‘Exotic live species’ will mean animals named under Appendices I, II and III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora.
• It will not include species from the Schedules of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
• Currently, it is the Directorate-General of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Commerce, that oversees the trade of ‘exotic wildlife species’.
• The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is an organisation that is tasked with monitoring illegal trade.

About CITES

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is part of a multilateral treaty that includes plant, animals and birds under varying categories of threat of extinction and which will be jointly protected by members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• India is a signatory to CITES.