The twentieth meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), CoP20, held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, brought together 185 Parties and a broad coalition of international organizations to address the evolving challenges of wildlife conservation and trade regulation. The Conference underscored the need to strengthen the fight against illegal wildlife trade, advance science-based traceable management systems, enhance cooperation among range, transit, and consumer countries, and align implementation with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

At the opening of CoP20, countries reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening wildlife protection, enhancing cross-border cooperation, and advancing science-based management of migratory species. Within this global agenda, Kazakhstan’s saiga proposal emerged as a nationally grounded yet globally relevant model.

Kazakhstan’s active participation at CoP20, supported by the country’s NBSAP Accelerator Partnership Facilitator, Kumar Kylychev, catalyzed new avenues for regional collaboration and deepened engagement with international partners towards continued implementation of its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). This collaborative leadership was encouraged by the cooperative principles reaffirmed in the Samarkand Declaration:

• Strengthening cross-border traceability mechanisms.
• Expanding enforc
  ement capacity.
• Preparing regional initiatives.
• Advancing coordinated conservation of migratory species across shared landscapes.

CoP20 and the accompanying bilateral meetings served as a unifying platform for these dialogues, emphasizing transboundary solidarity and joint action.

Within this cooperative and implementation-focused context, Kazakhstan brought forward a nationally significant and globally relevant conservation decision centered on the saiga antelope.

Kazakhstan’s saiga population was just 21,000 individuals in 2003. It rebounded to 4 million in 2025, representing one of the largest wildlife recoveries recorded in modern conservation history.

Kazakhstan’s delegation, led by the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources together with the national CITES Scientific Authority, presented robust scientific evidence demonstrating the extraordinary recovery of the Saiga tatarica and the reliability of Kazakhstan’s safeguards for the species. Its safeguards follow CITES guidance on non-detriment findings to ensure that international trade doesn’t threaten the saiga’s survival in the wild. The country advanced in implementing strengthened monitoring systems in line with the Global Biodiversity Framework commitments.

Given the country’s progress in recovering the Saiga and national regulations for its continued survival, on 29 November 2025, Kazakhstan secured overwhelming Party support (94% in favor) to lift the zero-export quota for saiga horns through strictly regulated exports.

At the closing plenary, CITES Secretary-General Ivonne Higuero praised Kazakhstan:

“Thanks to consistent conservation efforts, the saiga population in Kazakhstan has grown from a historic low of just 21,000 to more than four million animals. This remarkable recovery gives confidence in the long-term viability of the species and allowed Parties to agree to the resumption of international trade in derivatives from Kazakhstan under a precautionary and strictly controlled approach.”

Delegates highlighted Kazakhstan’s strong governance systems, including long-term monitoring, expanded protected areas, strengthened anti-poaching enforcement, advanced digital traceability (including DataMatrix labeling), and commitments to ensuring no adverse impacts on wild populations. Under the approved mechanism, trade will occur only with partner countries capable of verifying the legal origin of horns through robust national traceability systems. Kazakhstan is committed to:

• Maintaining strict quotas and time-bound exports.
• Ensuring transparent reporting to CITES.
• Reinvesting revenues into conservation and coexistence measures.
• Reducing illegal pressure on other threatened species by channeling demand into a regulated market.

The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources emphasized that lifting the zero-export quota reflects a shift from an exclusively protection-focused approach to a science-based model of sustainable use, where all utilization remains ecologically safe and firmly supported by a strong traceability framework. All revenues from regulated trade will be reinvested in biodiversity conservation, ecosystem monitoring, and restoration.

Kazakhstan underscored that unmanaged saiga overpopulation poses emerging ecological and socio-economic risks. Rapid population growth has intensified human-wildlife conflicts, caused economic losses for pastoral communities, and accelerated the degradation of pastureland and fragile steppe ecosystems. The country has firsthand experience with population vulnerability: in 2015, more than 150,000 saiga died in a sudden mass mortality event caused by disease. Without science-based management, habitat pressure, resource competition, and disease outbreaks could push the species toward another mass die-off.

Sustainable management further delivers benefits for local communities. A regulated system creates seasonal and permanent jobs in monitoring, collection, and conservation, reduces grazing pressure on pastures, stabilizes livestock productivity, and supports affordable access to food. These co-benefits reinforce principles of fair and equitable benefit-sharing under CITES and the Global Biodiversity Framework.

During Kazakhstan’s side event at CoP20, the Ministry reiterated that export volumes will not be driven by consumer demand. Supply will depend solely on scientific assessments and tightly controlled collection practices, ensuring ecological logic rather than commercial interests. Kazakhstan also emphasized that exports are not an ultimate policy goal, but rather a responsible, time-bound opportunity to monetize existing stockpiles and reinvest the revenues directly into conservation. With all safeguards in place, Kazakhstan affirmed that limited, carefully regulated exports will not impact saiga populations in other range states and will help reduce illegal pressure on threatened species globally.

Kazakhstan’s successful model demonstrates how countries can combine conservation achievements with sustainable use under the highest safeguards, while remaining aligned with the Global Biodiversity Framework. The model represents a major milestone for global conservation, reinforcing the integrated principles of the Global Biodiversity Framework, including Target 5 (sustainable harvesting, trade, and use), Target 21 (data-driven monitoring) and Target 18 (preventing wildlife crime). It also supports several Sustainable Development Goals, including SDGs 12, 15, and 17.

The decision is now widely seen as:

• A case study in science-based decision-making;
• A demonstration of effective governance;
• A model for balancing ecological and socio-economic objectives;
• A foundation for long-term regional and international collaboration.

Kazakhstan has prepared to take on a significant responsibility with professionalism, transparency, scientific rigor, and strong cooperation with partner countries and international organizations. The nation will now finalize operational protocols for implementation, including monitoring, reporting, export controls, compliance mechanisms, and collaboration with specialized international organizations such as ICCWC, CMS, TRAFFIC and the CITES Secretariat.

Learn more about Kazakhstan and the progress of other country members on our Recent News page. Curious about the Facilitator Programme? Learn more about its critical role in accelerating NBSAPs here.