TRAFFIC 2 BULLETIN REPORT OF 18TH CITES MEETING EU LIZARD IMPORTS FROM AUSTRALIA, CUBA AND MEXICO VOL. 31 NO. 2 31 NO. VOL. CITES AND VOLUNTARY CERTIFICATION FOR WILD PLANTS TRAFFIC is a leading non-governmental organisation working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. For further information contact: The Executive Director TRAFFIC David Attenborough Building Pembroke Street Cambridge CB2 3QZ UK Telephone: (44) (0) 1223 277427 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.traffic.org With thanks to The Rufford Foundation for contributimg to the production costs of the TRAFFIC Bulletin is a strategic alliance of OCTOBER 2019 OCTOBER The journal of TRAFFIC disseminates information on the trade in wild animal and plant resources GLOBAL TRAFFIC was established TRAFFIC International David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, Cambridge, CB2 3QZ, UK. in 1976 to perform what Tel: (44) 1223 277427; E-mail: [email protected] AFRICA remains a unique role as a Central Africa Office c/o IUCN, Regional Office for Central Africa, global specialist, leading and PO Box 5506, Yaoundé, Cameroon. Tel: (237) 2206 7409; Fax: (237) 2221 6497; E-mail: [email protected] supporting efforts to identify Southern Africa Office c/o IUCN ESARO, 1st floor, Block E Hatfield Gardens, 333 Grosvenor Street, and address conservation P.O. Box 11536, Hatfield, Pretoria, 0028, South Africa Tel: (27) 12 342 8304/5; Fax: (27) 12 342 8289; E-mail: [email protected] challenges and solutions East Africa Office c/o WWF TCO, Plot 252 Kiko Street, Mikocheni, PO Box 105985, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. linked to trade in wild Tel/Fax: (255) 22 2701676; E-mail: [email protected] HARISH SEGAR / WWF animals and plants. © AMERICAS US Office c/o WWF-US, 1250 24th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA. Tel: (1) 202 293 4800; Fax: (1) 202 775 8287; E-mail: [email protected] TRAFFIC’s Vision is of a world in which trade in wild plants and animals is managed at sustainable levels without damaging the integrity ASIA of ecological systems and in such a manner that it makes a significant contribution to human needs, supports local and national China Office Room A2020, Finance Fortune Tower, No. 18, Xizhimenwai Ave., Xicheng District, Beijing 100044, P.R. China. economies and helps to motivate commitments to the conservation of wild species and their habitats. Tel: +86 10 6809 3666 Fax: +86 10 6809 3777 E-mail: [email protected] India Office c/o WWF-India, 172-B Lodi Estate, New Delhi-110 003, India. rade in wildlife is vital to meeting The role of TRAFFIC is to seek and activate solutions to Tel: (91) 11 41504786; Fax: (91) 11 43516200 the needs of a significant proport­ the problems created by illegal and/or unsustainable E-mail: [email protected] ion of the world’s popul ation. wildlife trade. TRAFFIC’s aim is to encourage sustainability TProducts derived from tens of thousands by providing government, decision­makers, traders, Japan Office c/o WWF Japan, 3Fl., Mita Kokusai Bldg, 1-4-28 Mita, of species of plants and animals are businesses, consu mers and others with an interest in wildlife Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-0073, Japan. traded and used for the purposes of, trade with reliable information about trade volumes, Tel: (81) 3 3769 1716; Fax: (81) 3 3769 1717 among other things, medicine, food, trends, pathways and impacts, along with guidance on how E-mail: [email protected] fuel, building materials, clothing and to respond where trade is illegal or unsustainable. ornament ation; moreover, this use Southeast Asia Office Suite 12A-01, Level 12A, Tower 1, provides vital income to millions of TRAFFIC’s reports and advice provide a technical basis Wisma AmFirst, Jalan Stadium SS 7/15, 47301 Kelana Jaya Selangor, Malaysia. people. for the establishment of effective conservation policies and Tel: (603) 7880 3940; Fax: (603) 7886 7369; E-mail: [email protected] programmes to ensure that trade in wildlife is maintained Most of the trade is legal and much of it within sustainable levels and conducted according to sustainable, but a significant proportion is national and inter national laws and agreements. The journal Viet Nam Office No 1, Lane 95, Giang Van Minh Street, Ba Dinh District, not. As well as threatening these resources, of TRAFFIC, TRAFFIC Bulletin, is the only publication Ha Noi, Viet Nam. unsustainable trade can also lead to devoted exclusively to issues relating to international trade Tel: (84) 24 3726 5023; E-mail: [email protected] species declining in the wild to the point in wild plants and animals. Provided free of charge to over that they are threatened with extinction. 4000 subscribers and freely available from the TRAFFIC EUROPE Illegal trade undermines local, national website (www.traffic.org), it is a key tool for disseminating and international efforts to manage wild knowledge of wildlife trade and an important source of Europe Office David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, WILD WONDERS OF EUROPE / KONRAD WOTHE WWF Cambridge, CB2 3QZ, UK. natural resources sustainably and causes information for those in a position to effect change and © massive economic losses. improve awareness. Tel: (44) 1223 277427; E-mail: [email protected] Much of the content published in the TRAFFIC Bulletin arises from invest­ igations carried out by TRAFFIC staff, TRAFFIC staff are also based in Australia, Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong, whose wide­ranging expertise allows for F I C O E S A R T Hungary, Kenya, Madagascar, Sweden and Thailand. a broad coverage of issues. TRAFFIC has also built up a global network of contacts with, for example, law enforcement traffic websites agents, scientists, and wildlife experts, some of whom are regular contributors to the TRAFFIC Bulletin. www.traffic.org (English); www.trafficchina.org (Chinese); TRAFFIC welcomes articles on the subject www.trafficj.org (Japanese) WWF of wildlife trade that will bring new information to the attention of the wider public; guide lines are provided in this issue and online to assist in this process. For more JÜRGEN FREUND JÜRGEN information, please contact the editor: WILD WONDERS OF EUROPE / DIETMAR NILL / WWF WILD WONDERS OF EUROPE / DIETMAR NILL © © TRAFFICTRAFFIC Kim Lochen ([email protected]). www.facebook.com/ www.youtube.com/ @TRAFFIC_WLTrade trafficnetwork trafficnetwork The TRAFFIC Bulletin is a publication of TRAFFIC, a leading non-governmental organisation working globally on trade in wild animals and plants in the context of both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. The TRAFFIC Bulletin publishes information and TRAFFIC original papers on the subject of trade in wildlife, and strives to be a source of accurate and objective information. B U L L E T I N The TRAFFIC Bulletin is available free of charge. Quotation of information appearing in the news VOL. 31 NO. 2 OCTOBER 2019 and short reports sections is welcomed without permission, but citation must be given. Reprod uction of all other material appearing in the TRAFFIC Bulletin requires written permission from the publisher. CONTENTS MANAGING EDITOR Steven Broad EDITOR and COMPILER Kim Lochen Editorial 45 SUBSCRIPTIONS and MAILING A. Timoshyna (E-mail: [email protected]) The designations of geographical entities in this TWIX: Connecting enforcement agencies 46–47 publication, and the presentation of the material, across Europe and Africa do not imply the expression of any opinion M. Norwisz, D. Mahonghol, C. Ratsimbazafy, whatsoever on the part of TRAFFIC or its and M. Bürgener supporting organisations concern ing the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its CITES CoP18: Facing the challenges of the 48–58 frontiers or boundaries. post-2020 global biodiversity framework S. Zain, T. Oldfield, J. Compton Any opinions expressed are those of the writers and S. Broad and do not necessarily reflect those of TRAFFIC. Published by TRAFFIC The trade in nationally protected lizards 59–66 David Attenborough Building, Pembroke Street, from Australia, Cuba and Mexico Cambridge CB2 3QZ, UK. and the EU’s role as a main destination S. Altherr, K. Lameter Copyright of material published in the and J.C. Cantu TRAFFIC Bulletin is vested in TRAFFIC © TRAFFIC 2019. Revealing the online trade of 67–71 ISSN 0267-4297. Sun Bears in Indonesia UK Registered Charity No. 1076722 L. Gomez, C.R. Shepherd and J. Morgan Cover photograph: Reeves’s Pheasant Syrmaticus reevesii (Image by Allan Washbrook from Pixabay) Seizures and prosecutions 72–78 Photographs this page, from top: CITES CoP18 CITES and voluntary certification 79–88 (© TRAFFIC) for wild medicinal and aromatic plants Gastrodia elata A. Timoshyna, S. Furnell, (© Wikipedia) and D. Harter Sun Bear Helarctos malayanus (© David Lochlin CC BY-2.0) Funding for the printing and distribution of this issue of the TRAFFIC Bulletin is generously provided by The Rufford Foundation. Funding to print and distribute future issues is sought. Please visit http://www.traffic.org/donate/ if you can help. AC Print Solutions Limited 55 High Street Hunsdon, Herts SG12 8NJ N E W S TRAFFIC Bulletin V o l . 3 1 2 ( 0 9 ) 4 5 i d f e s u p y c h a n t r stakeholders invo lved are often complex, and the answer “ w b ” - g I m , ff v D animal welfare /rights issues those advocating sustainable use as conservation tool may block constructive solutions that involve trad in wildlife, misrepresented, ith some of ore successful examples trade benefits to species communities overlooked. Curr ent policy discussions, including th co ntext C ITES, skewed towards more ch arismati species, with scant attention paid lants other species. uch “blindness” hinders fforts find addressing wildlife legality nd susta inability More ca se studies across different taxa, geographies, governance systems needed.