Conventions

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)

The National Parks & Conservation is the Focal Point for the Subsidiary Body for Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) for CBD. Mauritius signed the Convention of Biological Diversity on the 10th September 1992.

Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)

CITES is a conservation tool of major importance and provides a global basis for the conservation of species in trade, through the listing of species on Appendices to the Convention. Mauritius signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild Fauna and Flora 1973 that came into force on the 27th July 1975.

The National Parks & Conservation Service is the CITES Management Authority of the Republic of Mauritius. Some 1,700 permits are issued every year by NPCS for the export, re-export or import of animal/plants parts listed under CITES.

RAMSAR Convention

Mauritius became a member of the Ramsar Convention on 30th September 2001. NPCS is the national focal point for Ramsar Convention on wetlands and Mauritius together with South Africa and Kenya also forms part of the scientific technical and review panel of Ramsar convention which is a scientific advisory body to Ramsar.

African Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA)

The AFRICAN EURASIAN MIGRATORY WATERBIRD AGREEMENT is an Agreement under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) better known as the Bonn Convention. AEWA aims to create by the Range States a legal basis for concerted conservation and management policy for migratory waterbirds species. The Agreement covers some 170 species of migratory waterbirds over an area of 60 million square kilometers. The AEWA region covers the entire continents of Africa and Europe, the Middle East and Asia Minor, much of Central Asia and Central Siberia, Greenland and a number of Canadian arctic islands. The Republic of Mauritius signed the Agreement on 26 October 2000.

Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals aims to conserve terrestrial, marine and avian species over the whole of their migratory range. The CMS was negotiated with the intent of developing an agreement designed to allow expansion and revision of commitments and thus providing a framework for the negotiation to species-specific sub-agreements. The CMS was adopted in 1979 and entered in force on 1 November 1983. The National Parks and Conservation Service was designated as the focal point of CMS in Mauritius on 30 July 2003. The Convention on the CMS was signed by the Republic of Mauritius on 1 June 2004.

SADC Wildlife Sector

Wildlife within the SADC region is exceptionally diverse, and enhances significantly the quality and value of region’s tourism. In addition to this, wildlife has traditionally been a source of foods, skins and other raw materials for the rural population. In recognition of all these values, SADC has developed a Protocol on Wildlife, signed in 1999 in Maputo by the SADC Head of state and Government as a main regional policy framework.

World Conservation Union (IUCN)

Mauritius is a member of the World Conservation Union. IUCN’s mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.