The three lists: IUCN, CITES and the WPA schedules

Prelims and MainsCurrent affairs on this: Global biodiversity conventions and bodies

Three lists decide what the world and India do about a species, and each answers a different question. The IUCN Red List says how close to extinction a species is: nine categories from Extinct to Least Concern, with Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable counted as threatened, assessed on rate of decline, range and population size. CITES, the 1973 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, says whether a species may be traded across borders: Appendix I bars commercial trade, Appendix II allows it under permit, Appendix III lists species one country protects and asks others to help police. The schedules of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 (WPA) say what Indian law does about it: which penalty applies and whether it may be hunted or possessed. A species can sit in all three, as the tiger does, or in only one; a question that mixes them tests which list does what.

• IUCN: a scientific assessment by a union of governments and non governmental organisations (NGOs), with no legal force of its own; the categories are Extinct, Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Least Concern, Data Deficient and Not Evaluated. A move between categories is news; it changes no law by itself.
• CITES: in force since 1975, India a Party since 1976; the Conference of the Parties meets about every three years and moves species between appendices by two thirds vote; Appendix I needs both an export and an import permit, Appendix II an export permit, Appendix III a certificate of origin. Since the 2022 amendment India implements CITES through Schedule IV of the Wildlife Act, with a Management Authority and a Scientific Authority.
• WPA schedules: Schedule I carries the heavy penalty; Schedule II the general one; Schedule IV is the CITES list itself. See the schedules foundation for the penalty structure.
• Worked examples: the tiger is Endangered, Appendix I and Schedule I; the Indian pangolin is Endangered, Appendix I and Schedule I; the great Indian bustard is Critically Endangered, Appendix I and Schedule I; the nilgai is Least Concern, unlisted in CITES and Schedule II.
• Why they diverge: IUCN measures risk, CITES measures trade pressure, the WPA measures what India chooses to protect. A common species can be Schedule I if it is hunted (the golden jackal); a threatened species can be outside CITES if it is not traded.

Mains: A Red List uplisting is a warning, a CITES listing is a trade rule and a schedule is a penalty; conservation policy works only when the three move together, which is why India's 2022 amendment tied its schedules to CITES.

Further reading: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (IUCN) · CITES: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

See also: The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: the schedules · The Great Indian Bustard · The tiger · Biological Diversity Act, 2002