SOLOMON HUGHES asks whether Labour ‘engaging with decision-makers’ with scandalous records of fleecing the public is really in our interests
Latest editorial
The world wildlife trade regulator at 50
What has worked well – and what needs to change – for the convention that controls trade in endangered species? DAN CHALLENDER and MICHAEL ’T SAS-ROLFES explain
HABITAT SPECIFIC: A vicuna in the Chilean Altiplano
[PapiPijuan/CC] 
For 80 years, survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings have pleaded “never again,” for anyone. But are we listening, asks Linda Pentz Gunter
Indian communist leader MA Baby considers the chilling escalation of violence against minorities and increasing impunity for their attackers under the Modi regime
by Dr David Lowry, Institute for Resource and Security Studies
This strike is about pay and conditions, says CAMERON HARRISON – but it also shows workers have the power to disrupt the mightiest war machine on Earth
HAVE you ever bought a souvenir from a local market on holiday? Or tried to travel overseas with a guitar? If so, you may have been stopped at the airport if your item contains animal or plant parts. This is because most countries, and also the EU, implement Cites, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
Cites is the main global agreement regulating international wildlife trade to ensure the protection of the 41,000 species covered by the convention. Under Cites, trade measures are established for species to ensure that international trade is legal and ecologically sustainable. For most species (96 per cent), this comprises close regulation of trade. For more threatened species (3 per cent), commercial international trade in wild animals and plants is banned (the remaining 1 per cent refers to a third category of species protected in at least one country).
Similar stories
The government’s reliance on unproven and short-termist technology won’t deliver answers to today’s energy crisis, warns MARK MASLIN
This much-maligned insect’s numbers are dramatically down this summer. SEIRIAN SUMNER explains what’s happened to them, and why ecologists are calling for assistance from the public
ZARAH PATTISON explains how invasive plants like Himalayan balsam and rhododendron are playing havoc with ecosystems where they are introduced
A new study has found that forests destroyed by wildfires emit carbon long after the flames die, with implications for post-fire management, write NATASCHA KLJUN and JULIA KELLY