The Assembly of People’s Representatives (ARP) passed at a plenary session held at the Bardo Palace on Tuesday a bill to regulate international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora, with 117 votes in favour, 6 against and 6 abstentions.
This law will enable Tunisia to preserve the environment and protect its systems from degradation and extinction by adopting the necessary legislative, regulatory and technical measures to implement the provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Tunisia ratified CITES in 1974, becoming the fourth and first Arab country in the world to do so.
Article 8 of the Convention requires all States to ratify it in order to establish a legislative and regulatory framework for the application of its provisions, “with a view to ensuring that international trade in specimens of wild fauna and flora does not endanger the survival of the species to which they belong”.
Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources
, Abdelmonêm Belaati, said that this legal text would help to deal with offenders and protect the country’s animal wealth, pointing out that his department has always been keen to monitor arbitrary animal hunting campaigns.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse