CITES is a multilateral environmental agreement that relies mostly on trade measures to achieve its goals. From the outset, it was clear that the Convention would have to work hand in hand with the system of multilateral trade that had been set up 25 years earlier under the WTO’s predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). S

This publication illustrates how the relationship between the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the WTO has evolved into a leading example of how global trade and environmental regimes can support each other and work coherently to achieve shared objectives.

CITES and WTO. (2015). CITES and the WTO - Enhancing Cooperation for Sustainable Development. WTO Secretariat, Switzerland.