Context: In the recently concluded CITES Standing Committee meeting, India has been removed from the Review of Significant Trade for Red Sanders.

CITES RST

• The Review of Significant Trade (RST) Management System works on those cases within CITES where there is concern that trade could be affecting the viability of a specific species from a specific country.

• The CITES RST process enables disciplinary action in the form of trade suspensions directed at countries that do not meet their obligations.

Why was India exempted from CITES RST?

• India has been under the Review of Significant Trade (RST) process for Red Sanders since 2004.

• The exemption is attributed to the 2022 amendment to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, aligning with CITES provisions under the CITES National Legislation Programme (NLP).

• India has now been exempted, allowing farmers in India to participate in the legitimate trade of Red Sanders. 

Significance for India

• This action will help the farmers growing Red sanders to increase their income through cultivation and export of Red Sanders from the plantations.

• It would also help in motivating farmers to grow more red sanders trees as a source of sustainable income.

Red Sanders (Pterocarpus santalinus) 

• Red Sanders is a flora-species that is endemic to the tropical dry deciduous forest in Eastern Ghats region of Andhra Pradesh.

• It is locally known as Yerra Chandanam, Rakta Chandanam.

• It is a very slow-growing tree species that attains maturity after 25 – 40 years.

• It is fire-hardy and resistant to droughts. 

• It is under ‘endangered list’ in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. 

• Listed under Schedule IV of The Wildlife Protection Act.

About CITES

• CITES is an international agreement to which States and regional economic integration organisations adhere voluntarily. 

• States that have agreed to be bound by the Convention (‘joined’ CITES) are known as Parties. 

• Although CITES is legally binding on the Parties – in other words they have to implement the Convention – it does not take the place of national laws. 

Permit System

• All import, export and re-export of species covered under CITES must be authorised through a permit system.

Appendix

• CITES Appendix I lists species threatened with extinction — import or export permits for these are issued rarely and only if the purpose is not primarily commercial. 

• CITES Appendix II includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction but in which trade must be strictly regulated.

• Every two years, the Conference of the Parties (CoP), the supreme decision-making body of CITES, applies a set of biological and trade criteria to evaluate proposals from parties to decide if a species should be in Appendix I or II.