18th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP18)
COP18 highlighted the increasing pressures on CITES as an instrument to counter the rising scale of biodiversity loss, as parties struggled to address stresses other than trade on wildlife populations, including habitat loss, disease outbreaks, and human-wildlife conflict. These are issues CITES is not designed to regulate but must consider when considering what “sustainable use” of endangered species means.