Contribution to an Evaluation of Tree Species Using the New CITES Listing Criteria
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(^ir Contribution to an evaluation of tree species using the new CITES Listing Criteria compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre on behalf of the CITES Management Authority of the Netherlands December 1998 Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2010 witii funding from UNEP-WCIVIC, Cambridge littp://www.arcliive.org/details/contributiontoev98wcmc . 3 CONTENTS ' 1 Introduction 3 2. The new CITES listing criteria 4 3. Activities undertaken in tree species evaluation '* 3.1 Selection of species 3.2 Collection of information ^ 3.3 Application of the criteria 5 5 4. Results of the tree sp>ecies evaluation 4.1 Review of species for Appendix I listing 1 15 4 .2 Review of species for Appendix n listing '" 5. Discussion References '' Acknowledgements '' 19 Annex 1 Biological Criteria for Appendix I 21 Annex 2 Profiles of Tree Species Annex 3 List of species recorded as globally threatened as a result of population 433 decline through exploitation in the Tree Conservation Database Index 439 Boxes and Tables Boxl 3 Summary of the Biological Criteria for listing in Appendix I Summary of the Criteria for listing in Appendix n 2 Table 1 Tree species included in the Appendices of CITES Table 2 Summary of results of the tree species evaluation 6 Tree species evaluation using the new CITES listing criteria 1. Introduction The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) has been utilised for over twenty years as a tool to help conserve wild species which are traded internationally. Species which are covered by the provisions of the Convention are included in appendices. To qualify for Appendix I, the Convention states that taxa must be "threatened by extinction" and that they "are or may be threatened by trade". Species included in Appendix n are those which "although not necessarily now threatened with extinction, may become so unless trade in specimens of such species is subject to strict regulation in order to avoid utilisation incompatible with their survival". Procedures to amend the appendices are laid dovvTi within the Convention. Resolutions providing further guidance on which species to list on the appendices were passed at the first Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention in 1976 in Berne. The so-called "Berne Criteria" provided guidance on the biological and trade status information required for inclusion in a proposal to amend the appendices. In 1994, the Parties adopted Resolution Conf. 9.24 which contained new criteria for amendment of Appendices I and II. These are sunnmarised in Section 2 below. The CITES listing criteria were developed at the same time as the development of the 1994 lUCN Red List Categories and are loosely related to them. The general aim of the new lUCN system of categorising is "to provide an explicit, objective framework for the classification of species according to their extinction risk" (lUCN Species Survival Commission, 1994). The lUCN categories indicate the degree to which species are threatened by extinction and are thus highly relevant to the CTTES listing process. As well as detailing the new CITES listing criteria, CITES Resolution Conf 9.24 also sets out in general terms the information requirements for amendment proposals. It points out that sufficient information, of sufficient quality and in sufficient detail to judge the proposal against the hsting criteria should be provided vnll to the extent available. It also acknowledges that for some species the amount of scientific information be limited. The CITES appendices include a wide range of plant and animal species including, at present, around twenty tree species which are traded internationally as timber (see Table 1). The provisions of the Convention and subsequent guidance on listing do not generally distinguish between different species groups in their application. There has, however, been international debate about the suitability of the Convention as a tool to help conserve particular species groups. Increased interest in the use of CITES for timber species over recent years has contributed to this debate. Various amendment proposals have been submitted to CITES for timber species and have been considered by the Parties at the Eighth and Ninth Conferences, prior to the adoption of Resolution Conf 9.24. At the Tenth Conference, Parties again considered and rejected a proposal to list a major timber species, Swietenia macrophylla, on Appendix n of the Convention. At the Tenth Conference of the Parties, the final report of the CITES Timber Working Group (TWG ), convened following the Ninth Conference in November 1994, was considered and endorsed. The CITES Timber Working Group (TWG) was formed to review implementation issues relating to timber species. Its formation was in response to the increased interest in CITES as a conservation tool for tree species and concerns about the potential practical implications of timber listings. The CITES listing criteria were applied to tree species for the first time in Phase 1 of this project undertaken by WCMC. Fifty-eight species were selected: care was taken in choosing representatives from various continents and various climatic regions, trees that were listed in the Appendices and some that were not listed, and covering various degrees and forms of utilisation. The choice was made in such a way as to evaluate trees with no known use at all, as well as trees used in the pharmaceutical or wood or other industries. The results were presented to the Seventh Meeting of the CITES Plants Committee. The Plants Committee congratulated the Netheriands CITES Management Authority and WCMC on the production listing criteria of the report, noting that it provided a valuable review of the application of the new CITES for a range of tree species. Furthermore, the Plants Committee invited the Netherlands CITES Management Authority to continue the process of applying the new CITES listing criteria to tree species included in the CITES appendices and for internationally traded tree species (and other plant species) not included in the CITES appendices. Contribution to an evaluation of tree species using the new CITES Listing Criteria Phase 2 completed the review of the apphcation of the 1994 CITES listing criteria to timber species. A further 250 tree species were evduated against the CITES listing criteria. Although far from complete, the list of evaluated tree species aims at providing a reasonable representation of tree species from various regions, climates and grades of commercialisation and conservation. The evaluation includes a preliminary testing of the criteria against the majority of timber species included in the Appendices of CITES (see section 3.1). Application of the criteria to CITES-listed timbers assists in the implementation of a TWG recommendation that: The Plants Committee under the charge as outlined in Resolution Conf. 9.1, Annex 3, para vii) reviews the list of all timber species currently included in the appendices and reports the results of this review to the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties. Subsequently at the Eighth Meeting of the CITES Plants Committee (November 1997) it was agreed that the results of the WCMC Tree Species Evaluation project commissioned by the CITES Management Authority of the Netherlands be used as a basis for this review. In its final report, endorsed by the CITES Parties, TWG noted that; many internationally traded timber species, boreal, temperate and tropical, can be managed on a sustainable basis through the application of appropriate silvicultural techniques, but that for other timber species such knowledge is currently lacking; and that there may be timber species which are under threat because of detrimental levels of use and international trade. Consequently the TWG recommended that: The range states should pay particular attention to internationally traded timber species within their territories for which knowledge of biological status and silvicultural requirements indicates concern. Table 1. Tree species in the CITES Appendices Species Appendix Use ARAUCARIACEAE Araucaria araucana m. BERBERIDACEAE Podophyllum hexandrum n Medicinal CARYOCARACEAE Caryocar costaricense n (Timber) CUPRESSACEAE Fitzroya cupressoides I Timber Pilgerodendron uviferum I Timber JUGLANDACEAE Oreomunnea pterocarpa n (Timber) LEGUMINOSAE (FABACEAE) Dalbergia nigra I Timber Pericopsis elata n Timber Platymiscium pleiostachyum n (Timber) Pterocarpus santalinus n Timber/Medicinal MAGNOUACEAE Magrwlia hodgsonii m MELIACEAE Swietenia humilis n Timber Swietenia macrophylla Call popns. in the Americas^ m Timber Swietenia mahagoni n Timber PALMAE (ARECACEAE) Chrysalidocarpus decipiens n Neodypsis decaryi n PINACFAE Abies guatemalensis I (Timber) Introduction Species Appendix Use PODOCARPACEAE Podocarpus parlatorei I Podocarpus neriifolius m ROSACEAE Prunus africana n Timber/Medicinal RUBIACEAE Balmea stormiae I (Timber) TAXACEAE Taxus wallichiana n Medicinal THYMELEACEAE (AQUILARIACEAE) Aquilaria malaccensis n Medicinal ZYGOPHYLLACEAE Guaiacum officinale n Timber Guaiacum sanctum n Timber Note Use: ( ) indicate use is minor 2. The new CITES listing criteria The new CITES listing criteria as set out in Resolution Conf. 9.24 include biological criteria for inclusion in Appendix I; criteria for the inclusion in Appendix 11 of species in need of trade regulation in order to avoid utilisation incompatible with their survival; and criteria for inclusion in Appendix II of species which should be included for "look-alike purposes". The main criteria (leaving out those for Appendix II look- alike species) are summarised in the Box below. It should be emphasised that each criterion for Appendix I hsting is subject to fiirther qualifications, at least one of which should be met for the criterion to apply. The Appendix I criteria are given in full in Annex 1 to this report. Boxl Summary of the Biological Criteria for listing in Appendix I: A It has a small wild population (<5000 individuals) 6 It has a restricted area of distnbution(<10,0(X)km^) C The vkild population has been or is inferred to be in decline (50% in 5 years or 2 generations or for a small population 20% in 10 years or 3 generations).