Cites Cop 17 Zsl Briefing Note African Grey Parrot (Cop17 Proposal 19)

CITES COP 17 ZSL BRIEFING NOTE AFRICAN GREY PARROT (COP17 PROPOSAL 19)

(Proposal 19): Transfer from Appendix II to grey and Timneh parrots, (primarily African greys), have been traded internationally5. In the late 1990’s exports from Appendix I of Psittacus erithacus in accordance Cameroon accounted for 48% of the trade6, and with some with Resolution Conf. 9.24 (Rev. CoP16), Annex 1. estimates suggesting up to 90% of trapped birds died before export, up to 100,000 birds per year were captured in Cam- 7 The African grey parrot is among the most traded bird eroon, and over one million wild-caught parrots regionally . species in the world, particularly in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. Habitat loss also has significant impacts, especially on iso- lated populations on the periphery of the range. Based Severe population declines have been noted in 20 of the upon rates of overall forest loss, it is estimated that West 22 range states including Burundi, Cameroon, Kenya and Africa has already lost 90% of the original moist forest the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ghana has seen a and rates of forest loss in the Congo basin are increas- 8,9 decline of between 95-99% of its population over the past ing, having doubled from the 1990s to early 2000s . 30 years and similar situation is ongoing in many other range states where it is now very rare or even extinct, e.g Benin, Serious concerns have been raised regarding manage- Burundi, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania ment of existing trade in this species. These include re- and Togo1,2,3,4. ports of permit irregularities and importers reporting quantities imported regularly exceeding export quotas The driver for these declines is trapping for the wild bird and the number of export permits issued by export- trade, with habitat-loss also having significant impacts. In ing Parties. From 2007 to 2013 a total of 28,721- indi less than two decades, almost 750,000 wild-caught African viduals were traded in excess of the published quotas.

1 Clemmons JR. 2003. Status Survey of the African Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus timneh) and Development of a Management Program in Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. CITES, Geneva, Switzerland. 2 da Costa Lopes, D. 2014. O Papagaio-Cinzento-de-Timneh, Psittacus timneh no arquipélago dos Bijagós: Contribuições para o estudo do estatuto, ecologia e conservação de uma espécie ameaçada. Dissertation submitted for M.Sc. in Biology and Conservation, University of Lisbon, Portugal. 3 Martin RO, Gilardi JD, Johnson R, Kariuki Ndang’ang’a P, Fotso RC, Drori O, Perrin M. 2014a. Grey parrot Psittacus harvesting for conservation must have a robust scientific basis: Com- mentary on Tamungang et al.(2013). International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation, 6(11), 750–753. 4 CITES.2014. Review of Significant Trade in specimens of Appendix-II species. Psittacus erithacus. 27th meeting of the Animals Committee. Document #: AC27 Doc. 12.4 ; pp 27-41 5 UNEP-WCMC. 2013. Review of Significant Trade: Species selected by the CITES Animals Committee following CoP15 and retained in the review following AC26. 6 Waugh, D. 2010. Recent trade, capture of wild African Grey Parrots. AFA Watchbird 37(1): 43-45. 7 BirdLife International. 2013. Psittacus erithacus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T22724813A48141088. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-2.RLTS. T22724813A48141088.en. Downloaded on 15 September 2016. 8 Ickowitz A, Slayback D, Asanzi P, Nasi R. 2015. Agriculture and deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A synthesis of the current state of knowledge. Occasional Paper 119. Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR. 9 Ernst C, Mayaux P, Verhegghen A, Bodart C, Christophe M and Defourny P. 2012. National Forest Cover Change in Congo Basin: Deforestation, Reforestation, Degradation and Regenera- tion for the years 1990, 2000 and 2005. Global Change Biology, 19(4), 1173–1187. This included specimens exported from countries with no Cameroon resulting in formal notifications in 2012of published quota and 2,983 were exported from countries multiple recent cases of fraudulent permits accompanying 11 with quotas of zero whilst 4,440 were reported to have shipments originating from Cameroon . The Secretariat recommended that Parties not accept any CITES export originated in non-range countries. Undercover investigations permits or certificates allegedly issued by Cameroon unless conducted by investigative journalists in early 2013, their validity had been confirmed by the Secretariat. further revealed large-scale abuses involving corruption, photocopying export permits for multiple shipments, and Captive breeding is ongoing in zoos and on a commercial yearly trapping of thousands from areas where trapping is and private basis in Europe and elsewhere and these efforts prohibited. should be expanded in order to both meet demands and assist with re-introduction and supplementation efforts for conservation purposes. Captive-bred and reared birds are of a better temperament than wild-caught birds, more easily kept as pets, and they also do not pose the health risks associated with moving wild-caught birds across the globe.

Over-harvesting compounded by poor regulation and management, fraudulent use of permits and clear breaches of established quota has all resulted in the severe population decline of the African grey Parrot, further exacerbated by habitat loss and degradation. As a consequence ZSL considered criteria for transfer of the species to Appendix I clearly met.

ZSL strongly encourages Parties to support Proposal 19 and the range states seeking to strengthen protection for the African grey parrot.

Following this, the CITES Secretariat visited the DRC in 2015 and identified issues with the cancellation of permits and issuance of replacements; lack of security of the physical location of the CITES Management Authority; concerns regarding the relationship between the Management and Scientific Authorities; issuance of export permits with validity periods in excess of 6 months, export quota consistently being exceeded since 2008 and an inability to verify the legal origin of the parrots harvested in different provinces For more information please contact: of DRC and a lack of recent scientific studies on the status Paul De Ornellas, Programme manager Africa & Lead, Illegal their populations to inform a solid non-detriment finding. Wildlife Trade ([email protected]) This resulted at the 66th meeting (SC66, Geneva, 11-15 January 2016)10, the Standing Committee recommending a Julian Easton, Deputy country director, Cameroon (Julian. trade suspension from DRC. [email protected]) Tom Jennings, Senior Press Officer Science and There have been similar concerns regarding trade in Conservation ([email protected])

10 CITES. 2016. Notification to the parties. Democratic Republic of the Congo. Recommendation to suspend trade in African grey parrots. No. 2016/021 11 CITES. 2012. NOTIFICATION TO THE PARTIES. No. 2012/021. Geneva, 12 March 2012. CONCERNING: CAMEROON. Verification of export permits.