International Environmental Law: Implementing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in the United States

International environmental law covers many subjects. For the most part, however, international agreements on environmental subjects, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) must be implemented through the domestic law of signatory countries. For example, the United States implements CITES through the federal Endangered Species Act.

This lesson provides an introduction both to CITES and to the Endangered Species Act's implementation of that Convention. No prior knowledge of CITES is required; however, this lesson assumes that you are familiar with the ordinary workings of the Endangered Species Act. If you are not familiar with that statute, you may want to complete the CALI lesson entitled "ESA Basics" before continuing with this lesson.

In addition, if you are completely unfamiliar with principles of international law, you may want to complete the CALI lesson entitled "Introduction to International Law for Environmental Law Students" before continuing with this lesson.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to:

1. Identify the four main reasons that nations enter into treaties to protect species and their habitat.
2. Describe the basic framework of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
3. Describe how the United States became a party to CITES.
4. Identify which federal statute within the United States implements CITES.