Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 15 May 2025 to Question 50987 on Cheetahs: Hunting, how species of conservation concern will be determined.

Species of conservation concern is determined in the criteria set out under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). CITES lists species in its Appendices according to the level of threat international trade has on their conservation status, with Appendix I being the most threatened species.

A species may be listed in CITES Appendix I and II if it meets certain criteria, such as:

- a small or declining wild population,

- high vulnerability to external factors,

- fragmented population..

This criteria is set out in CITES Resolution Conf. 9.24 (Rev. CoP17).

In the UK, CITES is implemented by the Wildlife Trade Regulations (WTRs), with Annexes A and B of the WTRs broadly corresponding to CITES Appendices I and II.