- Turkmenistan is set to join the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) beginning 2025.
- Home to many charismatic and widely traded species, such as the Persian leopard, snow leopard, peregrine falcon and markhor goat, this move is a step toward regulating the legal wildlife trade and preventing the illegal trade in Turkmenistan and the whole of Central Asia.
- Joining CITES also builds a country’s capacity to detect illegal wildlife trafficking, seize traded specimens, tighten national regulations, and share seizure information with other member countries.
- Conservationists say Turkmenistan joining CITES helps protect biodiversity in Central Asia by regulating wildlife trade and ensuring sustainable trophy hunting.
Turkmenistan is set to join the global wildlife trade convention as of January, in a move that could bolster conservation efforts in Central Asia. This makes Turkmenistan the 185th party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and the last country in Central Asia to join.
“Turkmenistan is ready for active cooperation within the framework of CITES at both the regional and international levels,” Babanyyazov Charygeldi, the minister of environmental protection, said in a press release announcing the country’s accession. CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero said the move “underscores the Central Asia region’s commitment to CITES implementation”.
For Turkmenistan, joining CITES helps build capacity for enforcement authorities, including customs and border agencies, to detect illegal wildlife trade and properly handle live specimens when they’re seized. In addition, it will now be able to share seizure information with other countries in Central Asia and beyond so they can collectively prevent illegal networks of trade.
“As a Party to CITES, Turkmenistan will be eligible to receive technical assistance and other support from the CITES Secretariat in regulating the international trade in CITES-listed species.” a spokesperson for the CITES Secretariat said in an email to Mongabay, explaining the benefits of joining. On the country’s part, it’s obligated to enforce CITES resolutions and decisions designed to address wildlife crime.
Tatjana Rosen, director of the Central Asia program at Conservation X Labs, a U.S.-based NGO, called the move a “huge milestone” for conservation in the region. “Now all of the countries [in Central Asia] are members of CITES, and that will lead to better conservation and enforcement,” Rosen told Mongabay. Rosen also serves as North Eurasia vice chair for the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA).
With over 80% of its land area covered by the Karakum Desert, Turkmenistan is home to a wealth of charismatic wildlife, including the endangered Persian leopard (Panthera pardus tulliana), goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus), urial sheep (Ovis vignei), steppe tortoise (Testudo horsfieldii) and markhor goat (Capra falconeri).
These species are among the 94 animal and 12 plant species from the country that are already included in the CITES appendixes, which list species whose international trade is subject to varying levels of restriction. Markhors, urials, peregrine falcons and Persian leopards, for instance, are listed in Appendix I, meaning their international trade is prohibited. Steppe tortoises, on the other hand, are in Appendix II, which means they can be traded with the proper permits.
In Central Asia, many of these species are traded legally and illegally. A 2024 analysis by wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC identifies saiga horns and live steppe tortoises as among the most frequently reported seized wildlife commodities in Central Asia.
“There has always been a demand for Central Asian wildlife,” Stephanie von Meibom, senior program coordinator at TRAFFIC, told Mongabay. Raptors like the peregrine falcon are sold across international borders for use in falconry, while wild sheep and antelopes attract international trophy hunters. Increasingly, species like the steppe tortoise and striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) are being trafficked for the pet trade.
In addition to species being imported into and exported from Central Asia, von Meibom says the region is increasingly being used as a transit point for live animals in the pet trade.
Closing critical gaps in wildlife trade
With Turkmenistan becoming the last of five Central Asian countries to join CITES, von Meibom said the step closes a critical gap in the region for tighter regulation of wildlife trade. “With any regional area, the weakest link is being exploited and used, and criminals are clever at exploiting it,” she said, adding that with Turkmenistan joining CITES, it remained a weak link in the region.
Being part of CITES can bolster conservation efforts because countries will have to prove that trade in certain species, such as those involved in trophy hunting, is sustainable. Export permits for such species will only be granted when a scientific authority in the country recommends that such export will not be detrimental to the survival of the species.
With CITES due to hold its 20th summit in November 2025 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan’s accession to the convention allows it to take part in the decision-making process for the first time. This means it will have a say in the uplisting and downlisting of CITES-listed species within its borders.
Banner image: Turkmenistan has the second highest number of Persian leopards after Iran. Image courtesy of Tamar Assaf via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain).
FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.
Credits
