A Review of Selected Species in CITES Appendix II. Volume 2
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Significant Trade in Wildlife A Review of Selected Species in Cites Appendix II Volume 2: Reptiles and Invertebrates Compiled by lUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre SIGNIFICANT TRADE IN WILDLIFE: A REVIEW OF SELECTED SPECIES IN CITES APPENDIX II COMMERCE IMPORTANT DES ESPECES SAUVAGES: ENQUETE AU SUJET DE CERTAINES ESPECES INSCRITES A L'ANNEXE II DE LA CITES COMMERCIO SIGNIFICATIVO DE VIDA SILVESTRE: ESTUDIO DE DETERMINADAS ESPECIES INCLUIDAS EN EL APPENDICE II DE CITES VOLUME 2: REPTILES AND INVERTEBRATES VOLUME 2: REPTILES ET INVERTEBRES VOLUMEN 2: REPTILES E INVERTEBRES Edited by Public par Publicado por Richard Luxmoore, Brian Groombridge and Steven Broad. lUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre, 219c Huntingdon Road, Cambridge, UK. 1988 International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora A joint publication of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (lUCN), Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK and the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Lausanne, Switzerland. 1988. The publishers acknowledge the financial support of the governments of Canada, Denmark, Federal Republic of Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and the United States of America and of WWF-USA, WWF-Switzerland, Pet Industries Joint Advisory Council. This report was prepared under contract to the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora by lUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre, which is supported by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). (£) 1988. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. ISBN 2-88032-95A-X Printed in Canada by the Canadian CITES Management Authority (Canadian Wildlife Service), Ottawa. Cover photo: Python molurus WWF/Romulus Whitaker The designations of the geographical entities in this book and the presentation of the material do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of lUCN or the CITES Secretariat concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The views of the authors expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of lUCN or the CITES Secretariat. ACKWOWLEDGKMEWTS This report was prepared with the assistance of many of the staff at lUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. The first drafts of the species accounts were written by the following authors: Brian Groombridge Geochelone chllensls , Testudo spp., CrocodyJus spp., VAxemus spp.. Python spp., Diana Evans Geochelone pardalls, Malacochersus tornlerl , Phelsuma spp., Chamaeleo spp. Richard Luxmoore Podocnemls expansa. Caiman crocodllus , Iguana Iguana, Dracaena gulanensls, Tuplnaiabls spp.. Boa constrictor , Bunectes spp. Mark. Collins Ornlthoptera spp. Sue Wells Papustyla pulcherrlma, Clrrhlpathes angulna. Tim Inskipp was responsible for the over-all co-ordination of the contract and assisted with the literature research. John Caldwell produced the basic trade tabulations from the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Unit computerised database. Wendy Coombes and Andrew Desforges carried out much of the analysis of the CITES trade data. The accounts for Geochelone chllensls , Malacochersus tornlerl, Testudo graeca, Testudo hermannl , Podocnemls expansa, Caiman crocodllus , Crocodylus n. novaegulneae and Crocodylus porosus were based on the accounts written for the lUCN Amphibia-Reptilia Red Data Book, Part 1, Testudines, Crocodylia, Rhynchocephalia. We should like to thank all those who responded to requests for information sent out by ourselves and the CITES Secretariat,, and to those who reviewed the earlier drafts of this report. They include: M. Abu Jafar, R.T. Adams, W. Aguilar, J.B. Alvarez, S. Ambu, P. A. Anadu, R.D. Auerbach, W. Auffenberg, T. Belokapova, J.M. de Benito, E. Bennett, H.A. Bereteh, S.S. Bist, Q. Bloxam, Bodiopelli, E. Boomker, L. Bortolotti, D.M. Botello, D.G. Broadley, W.Y. Brockelman, S.D. Budd, A. A. Burbidge, P. Butler, G. Ceballos, M.K. Cheung, Chew Hong, P.B. Clark, J. A. Cranwell, J. A. Crespo, G. Davison, P.G. Diaz, R. Dipouma, F. Djedjo, C. Dudley, Dr Fischer, H.S. Fitch, A.S. Gardner, A. Gaski , E. Ghamba, E.O. Gonzalez Ruiz, P. Gopalakrishnakone, S. Gorzula, A. Haynes , J. Hebrard, G. Hemley, M.S. Hoogmoed, K. Howell, J. P. d'Huart, R.F. Inger, T. Jalel, C.J. Kalden, B.H. Kiew, W. King, A.D. Mackay, W.E. Hagnusson, M. Mamane, E.J. Martinez, C.T. Masina, R.M. Mitchell, D. Momo, J.V. Morales Molina, J. A. Mortimer, J.R. Navas, W.P. Ntsekhe, F.H.O. Opolot, J. A. Ottenwalder, J.D. Ovington, A.W. Owadally, J.T. Palazzo, A.L. Peal, D. Perry, P.C.H. Pritchard, M. Romero Pastor, Rubini Atmawidjaja, N.M. Sarker, F. Serracino-Inglott , K. Shirazi, M.P. Simbotwe, P. Singsouriya, A. Stimson, I. Swingland, Syafii Manan, J. Thomson, R. Thorpe, E. Vallester, M. Vinas, H. Watson, D. Werner, Yang Peng Hwa, Digitized by the Internet Arciiive in 2010 witii funding from UNEP-WCIVIC, Cambridge http://www.arcliive.org/details/significanttrade02luxm IWTRODUCTIOW Baclmround The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was drawn up in 1973 to control trade in wildlife. It does so by affording to species either of primarily two levels of protection. Those species (or smaller geographical populations) which are threatened with extinction are listed in Appendix I, and are thereby banned from international commerce under most circumstances. Species which are not currently threatened with extinction, but which may become so unless their trade is regulated, are listed in Appendix II. Such species may be traded internationally, but nations must ensure that the levels of trade do not endanger the remaining wild populations. This requirement is expressed formally in the text of the Convention in Article IV, paragraph 2a, which demands that the authorities In exporting countries must have advised that the export of specimens of such a species "will not be detrimental to the survival of that species". Article IV, paragraph 3 indicates that the trade in a species "should be limited in order to maintain the species throughout Its range and at a level consistent with its role in the ecosystem in which it occurs and well above the level at which that species might become eligible for Inclusion in Appendix I". The authorities in the exporting country must monitor the exports and take steps to limit them whenever they determine it to be necessary. At the fourth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES, held in 1983 in Gaborone, Botswana, it was recognised that many countries exporting Appendix II wildlife were unable, on their own, to determine whether the levels of trade were having a detrimental effect on the wild populations. Therefore it was recommended (CITES Resolution Conf. 4.7) that the CITES Technical Committee should provide assistance by identifying those Appendix II species which were currently being traded internationally in significant quantities, but for which there was insufficient scientific information on the capacity of the species to withstand such levels of trade to satisfy "the requirements of Article IV, paragraph 3, of the Convention as determined by the range states". It was recommended that once the species of particular concern had been Identified, the Technical Committee, together with the range states involved, importing states and organisations experienced in the management of wildlife, "develop and negotiate measures required to ensure that continued trade in these species is within the terms of Article IV, paragraph 3". Initial discussions of the means by which the Technical Committee could identify those species of particular concern (as recommended by Resolution Conf. 4.7) were based on the premise that a high volume of trade was sufficient evidence alone to justify concern. However, an unpublished report produced in 1984 by WTMU for the CITES Secretariat, on the perception of the issue of high trade-volume, came to the following conclusions: The concept of high trade-volume may be approached In two ways: high volume may be considered in absolute terms (i.e. large numbers), or in relative terms (i.e. large numbers in relation to the population and biology of the species). Absolute high trade-volume does not alone have any bearing on whether a species is threatened by trade. However, species traded in high absolute numbers are likely to be of considerable ecological significance. Relative high trade-volume is of direct relevance to the survival of the species Involved, but there is no evidence that this is correlated with absolute high trade-volume. By virtue of their designation on the ili Appendices, trade in all CITES-llsted species is of concern, and should be monitored. Consideration of absolute high trade-volume as a major criterion for selecting species for special attention is thus not only irrelevant in terms of species conservation, but may divert attention from more Important cases. The Technical Committee Working Group on Significant Trade in Appendix II Species produced a paper, based on its meeting in Switzerland in December 1984, which aimed to formulate a procedure or course of action to enable the Technical Committee to fulfil the recommendations of Resolution Conf. 4.7. It was decided that the Group should restrict its attention to fauna, as a Plant Working Group was already in existence. The conclusions of the WTMU report on high trade-volume were endorsed, in that the Working Group agreed that it was not possible to identify those Appendix II taxa of greatest concern on the basis of trade data alone. Information on biological status, population trends and a whole range of other factors was needed in order to assess properly the impact of the trade in those taxa.