Changes CITES Listing

Major points

• India has submitted proposals regarding changes to the listing of the smooth-coated otter, small-clawed otter, Indian star tortoise, Tokay gecko, wedgefish and Indian rosewood in the CITES secretariat meeting, scheduled in August 2019 in Geneva (Switzerland).
• Otters are found world over, except in Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar, and other oceanic islands.
• India is home to 3 of the 13 species of otters found worldwide. These are – Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra); Smooth-coated Otter (Lutra perspicillata) and Small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus).
• The Smooth-coated Otter is distributed throughout the country from the Himalayas southward.
• But the Common Otter and the Small-clawed Otter are restricted to the Himalayas, to the north of the Ganges and to southern India.
• These otters have generally been described as fish specialist.
• Major threats to Asian otter population are loss of wetland habitats due to construction of large scale hydroelectric projects, conversion of wetlands for settlements and agriculture, reduction in prey biomass, poaching and contamination of waterways by pesticides.
• The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed these otters under the vulnerable category.
• India, Nepal and the Philippines have proposed that the listing of these otters should be moved from CITES Appendix II to Appendix I.

International / Indian express

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