CITES CoP20: WCS Warns Against Reopening Saiga Horn Trade, Says It Threatens Species’ Recovery

CITES CoP20: WCS Warns Against Reopening Saiga Horn Trade, Says It Threatens Species’ Recovery

Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Nov. 20, 2025—The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is calling on Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to reject CoP20 Proposal 3 which seeks to lift the zero-export-quota for wild Saiga tataricaspecimens from Kazakhstan and allow international commercial trade in saiga horns.

The CITES proposal comes just as the species has reached a major global milestone: the IUCN Red List status of the saiga antelope has shifted from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened, following its dramatic recovery. But the saiga has a long history of boom and bust population cycles, and a precautionary approach is imperative.

WCS urges Parties to maintain the zero-export quota, strengthen anti-trafficking measures, adopt strong and enforceable stockpile management systems, support community-based conservation, improve habitat connectivity, and continue rigorous scientific monitoring to ensure that the saiga’s recovery is sustained across all range states.

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Dr. Justine Shanti Alexander, WCS Mongolia Country Director, emphasized the risk: “Saiga’s stunning recovery could be jeopardized by the proposal at CITES CoP20 which would allow international commercial trade in saiga horns from Kazakhstan. Mongolia’s saiga population has grown thanks to years of collaborative effort, but Mongolia’s subspecies remains endangered. Any move that increases international demand for saiga horn—legal or illegal—would put these fragile gains at risk. We urge CITES Parties to reject any proposal that could reignite trade-driven pressures.”

Dr. Susan Lieberman, WCS Vice President for International Policy, added: “The recovery of the saiga is a conservation success story—but it is not a justification for prematurely re-opening international commercial trade. The necessary stockpile control, enforcement, and compliance systems are not yet in place. Allowing horn exports will increase demand, complicate enforcement, and threaten smaller populations across the species’ range. We urge all CITES Parties to reject this proposal.”

Kazakhstan’s saiga population has rebounded from 39,000 in 2005 to estimates of over 1.9 million today thanks to government leadership, improved law enforcement, habitat protection, scientific monitoring, and long-term partnership with conservation organizations and donors.

Yet WCS warns that this progress remains highly fragile. Demand for saiga horn in traditional Asian medicine remains strong, and reopening trade would increase demand, increase incentives for poaching and make illegal trade harder to control, in importing countries and countries where smaller populations are still recovering. Enforcement agencies already struggle to distinguish legal from illegal horns, and without a well enforced traceability system, laundering cannot be prevented.

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Smaller, more vulnerable populations in Mongolia, Russia, and Uzbekistan also face ongoing threats from climate extremes, disease, habitat degradation, and infrastructure expansion. In Mongolia, the subspecies (Saiga borealis) is restricted to a limited range and remains at risk despite recent population growth to more than 25,000 individuals, achieved through strong collaboration among government agencies, local communities, and conservation partners, including WCS Mongolia. 

Dr. Buuveibaatar Bayarbaatar, Senior Scientist at WCS Mongolia who has studied saiga for over a decade, noted: “Scientists in Mongolia are deeply concerned that reopening international trade will increase demand and put new pressure on our small, recovering saiga population. The risks are simply too high.” 

WCS Mongolia is leading research on the local dynamics of trade using innovative survey methods to inform more effective enforcement. Strengthening stockpile management, improving cross-border cooperation, and disrupting trafficking networks—in range and consumer States—remain critical components of the international conservation agenda.

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)

WCS combines the power of its zoos and an aquarium in New York City and a Global Conservation Program in more than 50 countries to achieve its mission to save wildlife and wild places. WCS runs the world’s largest conservation field program, protecting more than 50 percent of Earth’s known biodiversity; in partnership with governments, Indigenous People, Local Communities, and the private sector. Its four zoos and aquarium (the Bronx Zoo, Central Park Zoo, Queens Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and the New York Aquarium ) welcome more than 3.5 million visitors each year, inspiring generations to care for nature.