The precautionary principle in CITES: A critical assessment

The precautionary principle has become a popular principle in international environmental law. In 1994 the Convention on International Trade in Endang ered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) explicitly endorsed the princi ple, but CITES was implicitly precautionary long before that. Both the impl icit and the explicit versions of the precautionary principle endorsed by C ITES are open to the criticism that they rule out the consideration of fact ors that are relevant to wildlife policy. Included in these factors is the impact of conservation policies on human communities. This conclusion is re levant both to the general evaluation of CITES and to any wider considerati on of the value of the precautionary principle.