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CITESCITES WorldWorld Official Newsletter of the Parties Convention on international Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Issue Number 9 – July 2002 From the Editor The title of the Conventionkkk is clear: CITES ap- importing countries, and look at how botanical gar- plies to both animals and plants, and in fact, there dens can support national efforts to tackle illegal are many times more species of plants than ani- plant trade. We also provide tips on differentiating mals in the Appendices. Yet despite having an equal between wild-sourced and artificially propagated or- status in the eye of the Convention and being domi- chids, and consider advances in CITES implement- nant in numbers, plants seldom receive the atten- ing legislation for plants. With this issue of CITES tion and visibility they deserve. The trade in CITES- World we remind ourselves that CITES is equally listed plants is no less complex than that in animal about regulating the trade in plants, and that illegal species, and the illegal trade in plants is an issue of trade in CITES-listed plants is a continuing problem concern for all Parties. This illegal trade can involve that requires the attention of all Parties. trade without documents and documents issued for In a few months the CITES community will meet different specimens and, very frequently, can involve in Santiago, Chile, from 3 to 15 November 2002, for fraudulent claims of artificial propagation that can the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties. be difficult for the non-specialist to detect. In this To help with the preparations for this meeting, we ninth issue of CITES World we present articles on are providing our readers with a detachable list of the plant trade from the perspective of producing and proposals to amend the Appendices. See you in Santiago! Inside From the editor Illicit trade in live plants Illicit trade in live plants – an importer’s perspective Within the European Community, Germany is one Is that orchid wild-collected or artificially of the major consumer countries of imported live propagated? plants. There are many highly specialized nurseries and collectors in Germany, dealing among others Illicit trade in live plants – an exporter’s with the propagation of CITES-listed plants. perspective Unfortunately, the illegal import of protected live Botanic gardens and CITES plants still occurs in Germany, sometimes in signifi- cant amounts. Persons involved in these unlawful Special section: Proposals for amendment of Appendices I and II activities can be categorized according to their dif- fering motivations. These are tourists, ambitious pri- The devil’s claw and CITES vate collectors and professional smugglers with major commercial interests. What Parties can do to reduce illegal plant trade The plant-smuggling tourist is mainly interested Plants in legislation in bringing back home the lovely flowering plants that he/she sees while travelling, and this usually involves Recent publications on plants and CITES smuggling 1-10 plants without any of the documents required. Very often, these plants have been artifi- cially propagated in nurseries. World - Official Newsletter of the Parties Issue 9 The illegal collector is usually interested in a In May 2001, the German Customs authority, special group of plants, for example Asian after having been informed by the Management ladyslipper orchids (Paphiopedilum spp.) or Mexi- Authority, checked an import of several hundred can cacti of the genus Turbinicarpus. The illegal orchids from Taiwan, Province of China. The im- collectors may smuggle in plants for their own col- porter declared that all documents were available. lection, and may propagate them for exchange or According to the CITES-equivalent documentation sale to other collectors. They usually import a all plants had been artificially propagated. Because greater variety of plants than would have originated of a general suspicion that illegal activities might from nurseries, and in most occasions bring in be involved, experts checked the shipment. They plants that have been collected in the wild. Some found the documents did not match the entire ship- highly specialized collectors have also a strong ment, which contained among others 57 speci- taxonomic or other scientific interest in their plants. mens of the genus Paphiopedilum and 141 speci- They may be highly motivated to search for new mens of a very rare Pacific islands species of the and undescribed taxa, and engage in collecting genus Dendrobium. All plants had been collected expeditions to extremely remote areas in the world. in the wild. In October 2001, a German citizen, known to be a professional collector with close contacts to a well-known orchid specialist living in Thailand, informed Customs that he wished to collect the personal luggage of his father that was being for- warded to him by a friend in Vietnam. Customs asked to open the luggage; and inside were 78 wild-taken specimen of Appendix-I listed orchid species and 26 specimens of Appendix-II listed species. Photo: Greg Allikas, www.orchidworks.com Allikas, Greg Photo: Echinocereus gentryi Professional smugglers are mostly interested in the commercial value of plants. Their usual ap- proach is to smuggle great numbers of single spe- cies, mostly those with a high commercial value. According to German enforcement officials, there are currently two plant groups that predomi- nate in unlawful activities. These are orchids from Southeast Asia, especially from China, Vietnam and adjacent countries, and cacti from Central America, and Mexico. The following examples il- lustrate recent investigations and help to explain the current battle concerning illegal trade in CITES- Paphiopedilum charlesworthii protected plants. In March 2000, the Dutch Customs at During a regular review of plant taxonomic jour- Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport checked the per- nals, a German hobbyist was noted to have de- sonal luggage of a German traveller arriving from scribed several new orchid species of the Appen- Mexico. Hidden in the four suitcases beneath the dix-I listed genus Paphiopedilum. The holotype of personal belongings were 927 live specimens of one of the newly described species had been de- 18 endemic Mexican cacti species (including posited in the herbarium of a bona fide botanical Ariocarpus, Astrophytum, Aztekium, Echino- garden in Germany. A check of the files determined cereus, Obregonia, Pelecyphora, Strombocactus that no import permits had been issued for such and Turbinicarpus), all of which had been taken orchids for research purposes. A subsequent in- from the wild. This information was immediately vestigation revealed that the hobbyist had received transmitted to the German Customs, which led to several plants from a contact in Japan, and in ad- a search of the German traveller’s premises, and it dition that these plants had been collected in the was found he had propagated around 3,000 cac- wild in Vietnam and China. This case was handed tus specimens in his greenhouses. During the over to the public prosecutor. 2 World - Official Newsletter of the Parties Issue 9 search a connection was discovered to another Vliet van G. Photo: person who owned a small nursery specialized in rare cacti species. During the ongoing investiga- tion reports and maps were found with precise in- formation on all the places where the plants had been collected in the wild. The case of the cactus collector from Mexico is not an isolated one. In the past we have had important cases when people tried to smuggle several hundred (and up to 1,800) specimens of endemic Mexican cactus species. In several cases road atlases and maps were found that identified where plants were collected, often involving sev- eral trips. These cases show clearly the persisting prob- Artificially propagated hybrids of Phalaenopsis spp. in a lems that all enforcement and in particular Cus- controlled environment. toms officers face in their work: • on trees or rocks, or in the loose leaf litter on the identification of the specimens to species forest floor. level is only possible by highly specialized experts; Artificially propagated orchids are traded in enor- • the determination that plants declared as ar- mous quantities, forming probably more than 90% tificially propagated have in fact been collected from of the total volume of orchids traded internation- the wild can in many cases only be made by ex- ally. There are nurseries that produce annually more perts or officers with special training; than 35 million orchid plants, many to be sold on • people involved in illegal activities often know the national markets. Although the legal trade in about the regulations and identification problems, wild-collected orchids only forms a small propor- and in many instances it has been easy for them tion of the total volume, there is unfortunately an to mix legal and illegal plants in one shipment and important illegal trade associated with it. There are to use lawfully issued documents to cover their collectors who want to have specimens of wild ori- illegal activities; gin, or particular species that are not available as artificially propagated ones, often from countries • all too often court cases can become a dis- that prohibit the export of all plants of wild origin. pute between specialists over whether the speci- Other collectors are interested in species that are mens were taken from the wild or artificially propa- included in Appendix I. In particular the Asian slip- gated, and if sufficient doubt exists, the judge may per orchids (Paphiopedilum spp.) are very popular, proceed on the basis that the defendant is right and illegally acquired wild specimens are regularly and he will be set free. offered for sale. The CITES Management Authority of Germany Vliet van G. Photo: Is that orchid wild- collected or artificially propagated? Orchids can be found on all continents and all climate zones but for the Arctic and Antarctica and A seizure of South American orchids illegally collected from the wild.