Context:
India has been removed from the CITES’s Review of Significant Trade (RST) for Red Sanders.
What is CITES’s RST?
- A process through which the CITES Standing Committee places increased scrutiny on the exports of a species from a country to determine if the Convention is being properly implemented.
- Non-compliance may lead to disciplinary actions through trade suspensions.
- India has been under RST process for Red Sanders since 2004.
Benefits of removal of Red Sanders from the RST process:
- Helps farmers cultivating Red Sanders to become part of the legal trade supply chain.
- Motivates farmers to grow more red sanders trees as a source of sustainable income.
What led to the removal from RST process?
- Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 incorporated provisions of CITES as mandated under the CITES National Legislation Programme (NLP).
- NLP: Based on compliance level Parties could be placed in any of the 3 categories
- As a result, CITES Standing Committee has now moved India from Category 2 to Category 1.
About Red Sanders:
- Endemic to – Tropical dry deciduous forest of Eastern Ghats
- Referred to as ‘the pride of Eastern Ghats’.
- Distribution Areas – Palakonda, Seshachalamhill ranges (Andhra Pradesh), Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
- Conservation Status – IUCN Red List (Endangered), CITES (Appendix II), Wildlife Protection Act (Schedule IV).
- Santalin – A red dye impregnated in plants heartwood
- Threats – Illegal harvesting, smuggling etc.
Recently the Union Finance Ministry launched the 4th phase of ‘Operation Sesha’ to curb the illegal trade of Timber, including Red Sanders.
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES):
- An international agreement between governments.
- Aim – To ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species.
- Appendix I includes species threatened with extinction.
- Appendix II includes species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but in which trade must be controlled to avoid utilization incompatible with their survival.
- Appendix III contains species protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES Parties for assistance in controlling the trade.
Source: Business Standard
Previous Year Question
With reference to ‘Red Sanders’, sometimes seen in the news, consider the following statements:
1. It is a tree species found in a part of South India.
2. It is one of the most important trees in the tropical rain forest areas of South India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
[UPSC Civil Services Exam – 2016 Prelims]
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer: (a)
Explanation:
It is mostly found in Andhra Pradesh. It is not grown is tropical rain forest. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.
