Goal 4: CITES policy development also contributes to and learns from international efforts to achieve sustainable development.

Goal 4 explicitly recognizes the important contribution of CITES to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which seeks to achieve sustainable development through balancing the economic, social and environmental dimensions. It is a widely accepted and broad-scope international process, and it contains several goals and targets that are directly or indirectly dependent on effective implementation of CITES, including supporting legal, sustainable wildlife trade, and tackling both illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade. CITES Parties understand and aim to communicate the important contribution the effective implementation of the Convention has in achieving the global Sustainable Development Goals. CITES Parties equally recognize the need to draw lessons from the global debate on sustainable development, in recognition that CITES stands at the intersection between trade, the environment and development.