» Environmentally Sensitive Species Rules, 2001

Currently listed ESSs

1. Trinidad Piping-guan (Pawi)
2. West Indian Manatee
3. White-tailed saber-wing hummingbird
4. Golden Tree Frog
5. Ocelot
6. Olive Ridley Turtle
7. Hawksbill Turtle
   
8. Green Turtle
9. Loggerhead Turtle
10. Leatherback Turtle

Environmentally Sensitive Species (ESSs) are plants or animals which have been designated as such under section 41 of the Environmental Management Act 2000. The specific regulations related to ESSs are provided in the Environmentally Sensitive Species Rules, 2001.

ESSs may be indigenous to Trinidad and Tobago or, if not, present on these islands for part of their life or reproductive cycle. An ESS may also be an animal or plant that, throughout all or a part of its range is, or is likely to become, in danger of extinction and whose survival is unlikely if the threats persist.

Trinidad and Tobago is also party to several international conventions that require ESSs to be protected including:

1. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)
2. Protocol concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (SPAW Protocol)
3. Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention)
4. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)