Change in rules for Shisham based items by CITES to benefit Indian exporters

Tags: Environment Summits

In a major relief to the handicraft exporter from India the 19th Conference of Parties (CoP 19) to Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) has agreed that any numbers of Shisham (Dalbergia sissoo, North Indian rosewood) timber-based items can be exported as a single consignment in a shipment without CITES permits if the weight of each individual item of this consignment is less than 10 kg.

The 19th meeting of the Conference of Parties to Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild fauna and flora (CITES) is being held in Panama City, Panama from 14th to 25th of November 2022.

Earlier every consignment of furniture or handicrafts weighing above 10 Kg required CITES permission which badly affected Shisham exports from India.  This change in rule is expected to boost export of furniture or handicrafts made of Shisham from India and will benefit 50,000 artisans who work on it.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was set up in 1973 to help protect wild flora and fauna from extinction by requiring government permits for international trade in threatened wildlife and wildlife products.

 At present 184 countries are its members.

The first meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora was held in Berne, Switzerland in 1976.

The 18th meeting was held in Geneva, Switzerland in 2019.