TRAFFIC Bird’s-eye view: REPORT Lessons from 50 years of bird trade regulation & conservation in Amazon countries DECEMBER 2018 Bernardo Ortiz-von Halle About the author and this study: Bernardo Ortiz-von Halle, a biologist and TRAFFIC REPORT zoologist from the Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia, has more than 30 years of experience in numerous aspects of conservation and its links to development. His decades of work for IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature and TRAFFIC TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring in South America have allowed him to network, is a leading non-governmental organization working globally on trade acquire a unique outlook on the mechanisms, in wild animals and plants in the context institutions, stakeholders and challenges facing of both biodiversity conservation and the conservation and sustainable use of species sustainable development. and ecosystems. Developing a critical perspective The views of the authors expressed in this of what works and what doesn’t to achieve lasting conservation goals, publication do not necessarily reflect those Bernardo has put this expertise within an historic framework to interpret of TRAFFIC, WWF, or IUCN. the outcomes of different wildlife policies and actions in South America, Reproduction of material appearing in offering guidance towards solutions that require new ways of looking at this report requires written permission wildlife trade-related problems. Always framing analysis and interpretation from the publisher. in the midst of the socioeconomic and political frameworks of each South The designations of geographical entities in American country and in the region as a whole, this work puts forward this publication, and the presentation of the conclusions and possible solutions to bird trade-related issues that are material, do not imply the expression of any linked to global dynamics, especially those related to wildlife trade. opinion whatsoever on the part of TRAFFIC or its supporting organizations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or Complementary and valuable experience in conservation policy and practice area, or of its authorities, or concerning the in protected areas, international conservation and development debates, delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. multilateral conservation bodies (CITES, CBD, Ramsar), species specialist Published by TRAFFIC International. groups, timber, fisheries, non-timber forest products, and wild fauna management and ecosystem services, complete the framework that David Attenborough Building, make this bird-trade analysis so important for future conservation Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK policy decisions. © TRAFFIC 2018. Copyright of material published in this report is vested in TRAFFIC. ISBN: 978-1-911646-04-4 UK Registered Charity No. 1076722 Suggested citation: Ortiz-von Halle, B. (2018). Bird’s-eye view: Lessons from 50 years of bird trade regulation & conservation in Amazon countries. TRAFFIC, Cambridge, UK. Design: Fuszion With the support of Front cover photograph: wild-caught macaws in a facility near Parmaribo, Suriname, awaiting export © Arturo Hortas / TRAFFIC Bird’s-eye view: Lessons from 50 years of bird trade regulation & conservation in Amazon countries Bernardo Ortiz-von Halle © Staffan Widstrand / WWF Ramphastos toco Toco Toucan Green-winged Macaws Ara chloropterus © naturepl.com / Pete Oxford / WWF ii Bird’s-eye view: Lessons from 50 years of bird trade regulation & conservation in Amazon countries Amazon in &conservation regulation trade bird of 50years view: from Lessons Bird’s-eye TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Birds of South America 5 Brazil: ideological dilemmas and distracting confrontations 25 not helping wild birds Colombia: bird mega-diversity and mega threats 59 Ecuador: conservation efforts focused on enforcement and bird tourism 77 Guyana and Suriname: “if you have a resource, why not use it” 97 Peru: at the heart of illegal trade 117 The US’s role as main market of South American birds (1900–1992) 149 Regional conclusions 158 Bibliography 174 Bird’s-eye view: Lessons from 50 years of bird trade regulation & conservation in Amazon countries iii ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ABRASE Brazilian Association of Commercial Breeder and Traders of Exotic Wild Animals ACTP Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots AFA American Federation of Aviculture AWWP Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation CARDER Corporación Autonoma Regional de Risaralda CARICOM Caribbean Community and Common Market CBRN Coordenadoria de Biodiversidades e Recursos Naturais, Estado de São Paulo CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora CoP Conference of the Parties COPISA Compañia Peruana Internacional S.A. Corpoamazonia Corporación Autóma Regional del Sur de la Amazonía Cortolima Corporación Autóma Regional del Tolima COTES Control of Trade in Endangered Species CORBIDI Centro de Ornitologia y Biodiversidad del Peru CR Critically Endangered CR-PE Crtically Endangered-Possibly Extinct CRQ Corporacion Autonoma Regional del Quindio CRRFFS Centro de Recepción y Rehabilitacion de Fauna Silvestre CVC Corporacion Autonoma Regional del Valle del Cauca DAS Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad DD Data Deficient DENP Dictamen de Extracción No-Perjudicial- para Psittacidos de Importancia Comercial DGFFS Direccion General Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre DS Decreto Supremo EC European Commission EN Endangered EPA Environment Protection Agency - Guyana ESA Endangered Species Act EU European Union EUR Euros EX Extinct EW Extinct in the Wild FEMA Fiscalía Especializada en Materias Ambientales FUNBIO Fundação Grupo Boticário de Proteção à Natureza e Fundo Brasileiro para a Biodiversidade iv Bird’s-eye view: Lessons from 50 years of bird trade regulation & conservation in Amazon countries FWS Fish and Wildlife Service GEF Global Environment Facility IBAMA Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (Brazil) IBA Important Bird Area IBDF Instituto Brasileiro de Desenvolvimento Florestal ICMBio Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade INCOMEX Instituto de Comercio Exterior INDERENA Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturales Renovables y del Ambiente INRENA Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturales IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature LC Least Concern MAE Ministerio del Ambiente NGO non-governmental organization NPC Neotropical Primate Conservation NT Near Threatened PEX Possibly Extinct PEXW Possibly Extinct in the Wild PROMPERU Peru Export and Tourism Promotion Board RENCTAS Rede Nacional Contra o Tráfico de Animais Silvestres SDA Secretaria de Ambiente de Bogota SEMA Secretaria Especial para o Meio Ambiente SERFOR Servicio Nacional Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre del Ministerio de Agricultura y Riego SisPass Sistema Informatizado de Gestão da Criação de Passeriformes SPVS Sociedade de Pesquisa em Vida Selvagem e Educação Ambiental EU-TWIX European Union - Trade in Wildlife Information eXchange UAE United Arab Amirates UK United Kingdom UNASUR Union de Naciones Suramericanas UNEP-WCMC United Nations Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre UNIDERP Universidade Anhanguera UPMA Unidad de Policia del Medio Ambiente US United States USA United States of America USD United States Dollars VU Vulnerable WBCA Wild Bird Conservation Act WCMC World Conservation Monitoring Centre WCS Wildlife Conservation Society WWF World Wide Fund for Nature Bird’s-eye view: Lessons from 50 years of bird trade regulation & conservation in Amazon countries v Blue-and-yellow Macaw Ara ararauna © Zig Koch / WWF vi Bird’s-eye view: Lessons from 50 years of bird trade regulation & conservation in Amazon countries Amazon in &conservation regulation trade bird of 50years view: from Lessons Bird’s-eye foREWORD Steven Broad, Executive Director, TRAFFIC For the four decades after the Second World War, the export of live wild birds from South America to pet keepers and collectors in international markets reached epic proportions in terms of the diversity of species and millions of individual animals involved. Though undoubtedly a continuation of fascination and commerce stretching back far deeper in history, the scale and reach of this business, driven by fast growing economies in the US and Europe, had a profoundly negative impact on the rich avifauna of the South American continent. Gradually from the mid-1960s onwards to the end of the 1980s, both exporting and importing countries introduced legal restrictions on this trade and ramped up regulatory collaboration from the mid-1970s under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Although the reaction of some in this business was to try evasion through illegal trade, others saw the writing on the wall and shifted rapidly to captive-bred supply. In a rather limited number of cases, management of sustainable wild-sourcing was pursued as a policy objective. However, the legal closure by the mid-1990s to wild bird imports of the US and EU markets, left few options for such wildlife management innovation. So, now that we are 50 years on from that phase of regulatory intervention, what has happened? What are the conservation impacts for the bird species involved and the natural places from where they were harvested in such vast numbers? And what has become of the people and communities who once derived livelihoods from this trade and what has happened to their place in the machinery of conservation since that time? These