The Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species is an international treaty that aims to ensure that commercial collection, hunting and fishing of species for global trade does not endanger the survival of wild populations.
Madagascar is an active participant in CITES and a number of its endemic plants and animals are subject to managed exports each year. We work with the CITES authorities inside Madagascar to achieve exports that are non-detrimental to wild populations.
In the longer-term we aim to develop initiatives where scientific research, commercial collection and community management/monitoring all occur in the same sites. This will potentially allow scientists to provide robust information on the possible impact of any commercial collection and ensure that quota are conservative. It will also enable a stronger link to emerge between communities and species collectors, which could provide the basis for local people obtaining direct benefits from the sustainable harvesting of reptiles and frogs.
Our current focus for CITES work is with chameleons.
