ABSTRACT
In 1994 CITES explicitly adopted the precautionary principle for the first time. It might have appeared that CITES was simply catching up with the rest of the environmental world. From the late 1980s onwards the precautionary principle was included in an increasing number of international declarations and agreements. The conclusive stamp of approval came in 1992 when it was endorsed in Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. However, it can be argued that the principle was implicitly present in the original CITES treaty signed in 1973.
