ABSTRACT
Species and biodiversity are difficult to protect. Effective conservation requires keeping track of the actions of huge numbers of people and thousands of species and ecosystems across vast spaces. Doing so is impossible without international collaboration, but also requires domestic action, and states are reluctant to yield sovereign control over their resources to international governance processes. Early species conservation agreements focused on specific species and were negotiated among a small number of parties. One of the first truly global species conservation agreements still in effect is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), signed in 1973. A related CITES program, the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS), compiles data from law enforcement around the world on seizures of illegal ivory. This program is managed by the non-governmental organization TRAFFIC. Underlying the entire problem is a lack of knowledge – about species and ecosystems, and about behavior.
