Highlights and images for 25 November 2025

On the second day of the twentieth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP20), delegates began to tackle the ambitious agenda in Committees I and II. 

Committee I Chair Matthias Lörtscher (Switzerland) and Committee II Chair Anna Wong (Singapore) presided over efficient morning sessions where most agenda items were addressed. Discussions in the afternoon became more protracted, with Committee I unable to complete all scheduled agenda items. Chair Lörtscher advised delegates to “use [their] evenings wisely.”

Want to dig deeper into today's talks? Read the full Earth Negotiations Bulletin daily report.

Committee I considered a range of items pertaining to compliance, species specific matters, and the Convention appendices, among others. Notably: 

• Brazil introduced new decisions to ensure continued work on songbird trade and conservation management;
• While discussing trade in medicinal and aromatic plants, India and Brazil failed to find consensus among their peers for an additional draft decision on developing monitoring systems alongside national and regional centres of excellence for medicinal and aromatic plant species; and
• The UK submitted a proposal to request party views and a study of the application of the look-alike criterion, which was subject to significant debate. 

Focusing on administrative, financial, and strategic matters, Committee II: 

• Discussed the budget and work programme for 2026-2028;
• Voted on a US proposal to direct the Standing Committee to make recommendations on continuing or sunsetting the Sponsored Delegates Project, which was rejected;  
• Considered a draft resolution introduced by Senegal aimed at advancing a “One Health” approach in CITES; and
• Deliberated on the CITES strategic vision.

Day 2 included a rich selection of side events on species such as rays and sharks, commiphora wightii, sea cucumbers, pangolins, barbary macaque, and tigers.