CITES : a 2005 assessment : aantekeninge

The question has been recently raised as to whether CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species 1973 as amended in 1979 (993 UNTS 243, 12 ILM 1085 (1973), ratified by South Africa 15 July 1975) has not reached the end of its usefulness. (See Couzens "Two old watchdogs: different global perspectives of conservation, CITES, the IRWC, the African elephant and the whale" 2003 SAJELP 151). Concerns that have been raised refer to the fact that CITES makes no provision for ongoing monitoring, has no permanent secretariat to ensure that the convention operates successfully, makes no provision for financially supporting countries who implement the convention at great financial cost to themselves and has a lack of detail in its primary rules.