What changed

B100450/2025

P10_TA(2025)0255

European Parliament resolution on the EU strategic objectives for the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from 24 November to 5 December 2025

Key objectives for the CITES COP20 meeting in Uzbekistan

(2025/2618(RSP))

PE772.028

European Parliament resolution of 23 October 2025 on the EU strategic objectives for the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to be held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, from 24 November to 5 December 2025 (2025/2618(RSP))

– having regard to the report of 4 May 2019 by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) entitled ‘Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services’,

– having regard to the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and in particular, to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 on conservation of seas and marine resources and SDG 15 on protection, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems,

– having regard to the questions to the Council and to the Commission on the key objectives for the CITES CoP20 meeting in Uzbekistan (O-000035/2025 – B100000B100013 and O-000036/2025 – B100000/2025),B100014/2025),

– having regard to Rules 142(5) and 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

J. whereas source code R has been increasingly used for export permits for taxa included in CITES Appendix II without an assessment of the suitability of its application; whereas marine and aquatic species are among the taxa for which source code R may have been used inappropriately, among them some sturgeon species and European eels;

K. whereas in 2021 the IUCN raised the threat level of the African savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana) from Vulnerable to Endangered and listed African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) separately as Critically Endangered, following population declines across Africa of more than 60 % for African savannah elephants and 86 % for African forest elephants within three generations ;generations;

L. whereas CITES Decision 14.69 on captive-bred and ranched specimens opposes the commercial breeding and trade in tigers for their parts; whereas EU Member States continue to import and export live tigers and tiger parts registered under the CITES code of commercial trade;

CITES strategic vision: 2021-2030

4040. Supports the vision statement that by 2030, ‘all international trade in wild fauna and flora is legal and sustainable, consistent with the long-term conservation of species, and thereby contributing to halting biodiversity loss, to ensuring its sustainable use, and to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’;

41. Welcomes the recognition of the interlinkages between CITES, the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, the SDGs and the Convention on Biological Diversity; also points out the need to promote synergies with the UNTOC review mechanism;