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Center for Biological Diversity:
Amphibian and Reptile Extinction Crisis 

Motherboard, March 11, 2013

47 Turtle and Tortoise Species to Receive Greater Legal Protection
By Derek Mead

The CITES meeting in Bangkok has produced a lot of news about elephants, both good and bad. But the CITES treaty covers scores of protected species of all different classes, which is still only a fraction of the species worldwide that are under threat. Today produced some good news for fans of reptiles, as a total of 47 turtle and tortoise species were added to CITES appendices, including three species of pond turtle from the US. Over 200 countries ratified the proposals, including the US and China, who actually agreed on CITES regulation for reportedly the first time.

The US turtles added are Blanding’s turtles, spotted turtles and diamondback terrapins, which are all popularly traded in Asian food and medicine markets. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, over two million live turtles are exported from the US to Asian markets each year. While that figure includes species other than the three listed above, that huge catch has depressed a number of freshwater turtles. The new CITES coverage, which the CBD proposed way back in 2011, will at least force the trade to be regulated, monitored, and sustainable.

"I’m so pleased that the nations of the world are acting to save freshwater turtles in the United States,” said Collette Adkins Giese, a CBD attorney who focuses on reptiles and amphibians. “International protection is vital for the survival of our wild freshwater turtles, which are suffering from overexploitation, habitat loss and other threats.”

As you might have guessed, that huge Asian appetite for turtles has caused problems for turtle species in that region. In 2011, the Wildlife Conservation Society released a report listing the top 25 most endangered turtle species, nearly 70 percent of which were endemic to Asia. Along with the trio of North American turtles, a whopping 44 Asian turtle and tortoise species were given the protection of trade restrictions at the CITES conference.

Those restrictions can be flat-out bans, like for the international trade in ivory and rhino horn, which are generally reserved for endangered species and which are listed on CITES Appendix I. Appendix II, which a trio of hammerheads were added to this year, is for species that aren't necessarily endangered, but which are heavily threatened by market demand and whose trade must be regulated to be sustainable. Most of the turtles newly listed by CITES were added to Appendix II, while a few species have been bumped up to Appendix I, including Indonesia's Roti Island snake-necked turtle.

It's all good news, for as we've seen, conserving threatened species which have a high market demand is difficult enough when restrictions are in place. Without those restrictions, it's basically a free for all. Hopefully the new regulations will help preserve turtles for some time to come.


    This article originally appeared here.

Photo © Paul S. Hamilton