Technical Notes: Legal Trade in Selected Wildlife Products and CITES Status VARIABLE DEFINITIONS AND METHODOLOGY Year CITES Ratified represents the year in which a country ratified the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which is an agreement between governments to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Ratification is an act by which the State expresses its definitive consent to be bound by the treaty, and to respect and implement its provisions. CITES was drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1963 at a meeting of members of IUCN (The World Conservation Union). The text of the Convention was agreed to at a meeting of representatives of 80 countries on 3 March 1973. On 1 July 1975 CITES entered in force. Parties to CITES agree to ban the commercial international trade in an agreed list of endangered species and to monitor trade in species that might become endangered. Species are listed in Appendixes to CITES on the basis of their degree of rarity and of the threat posed by trade. International trade in species listed in the Appendixes or the derived products requires export, import, and re-export permits and/or certificates. A brief description of the Appendixes and permit regulation follows: 1) The most endangered species are listed under Appendix I. This Appendix includes "all species threatened with extinction which are or may be affected by trade." International trade in these species is subject to particularly strict regulations and must only be authorized by the corresponding National CITES Management and Scientific Authorities. Trade permits for these species are only granted under exceptional circumstances. 2) Other species at serious risk are included in Appendix II. This appendix includes "all species which although not necessarily currently threatened with extinction may become so unless trade is subject to strict regulation." Any international trade in Appendix II species requires export and import permits as well as re-export certificates, granted in accordance with conditions set forth in the Convention. Permits are granted by the National CITES Management and Scientific Authorities. 3) Appendix III includes "all species which any Party identifies as being subject to regulation within its jurisdiction for the purpose of preventing or restricting exploitation. The cooperation of other Parties, is therefore, needed." Any international trade in Appendix III species requires an export permit, a certificate of origin, and sometimes a re-export certificate. Permits and certificates are granted by the National CITES Management and Scientific Authorities in accordance with conditions set forth in the Convention. Additional information on conditions and trade regulations can be found at the CITES Web site, available at: http://www.cites.org/ Commerce is permitted for species that are not listed under CITES, even if they may become endangered as a result of unrestricted international trade and monitoring. Net International Legal Trade Reported by CITES is the balance of imports minus exports of selected wildlife and wildlife products from the spectrum of wildlife and wildlife products for which export, re-export, and import permits are issued. Net exports are shown as a negative balance in parentheses, and all figures are for trade reported for the year 2000. Data on net exports and net imports as reported by CITES correspond to legal international trade and are based on permits issued, not actual items traded. Figures may be overestimates if not all permits are used that year. In addition, some permits issued in one year are used at a later date. For these reasons, numbers of exports and imports may not match exactly for any given year. Regional values represent the sum of intra-regional and inter-regional trade for all countries in a given region, and is not limited to the sum of exports into and out of a region. World totals show the total number of exports, since calculating the balance of trade for the world would have canceled all figures. It is important to note that about 25,000 species of plants and 5,000 species of animals are listed under CITES, and that many species groups are not represented in this data table. Amongst the species groups represented in this table are lizards, primates, parrots, wild cats, snakes, and crocodilians. Definitions of these species groups are as follows: Live lizards include the net number of import, export, and re-export permits issued in the year 2000 for individuals from all Sauria and Rhynchocephalia species listed under the CITES treaty, while lizard skins represent the net number of permits issued for whole skins for these groups of species. Live snakes include the net number of permits issued in the year 2000 for individuals from all Serpentes species listed under the CITES treaty, while snake skins represent the net number of permits issued for whole skins for these groups of species. Live primates include the net number of permits issued in the year 2000 for individuals of all monkeys, apes, and prosimians listed under the CITES treaty. Live parrots include the net number of permits issued in the year 2000 for individuals of all Psittaciformes species listed under the CITES treaty. Crocodilian skins represent the number of permits issued in the year 2000 for whole skins belonging to individuals of Crocodylia species that are listed under the CITES treaty. Cat skins represent the number of permits issued in the year 2000 for whole skins belonging to individuals of Felidae species that are listed under the CITES treaty. FREQUENCY OF UPDATE BY DATA PROVIDERS Data on Year CITES Ratified is current as of May 2002 and was reported by the CITES Secretariat and accessible on their web page at http://www.cites.org/eng/parties/alphabet.shtml. Data on Net International Legal Trade Reported by CITES was derived by WRI from figures on net export permits and net import permits for selected wildlife and wildlife species provided by CITES, and is the balance of imports minus exports. This data was collected by the CITES Secretariat from Parties to the Convention that submitted annual reports, including trade records, to the CITES Secretariat. These trade records are compiled in the CITES Trade Database and were given to WRI by the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). This data represents net legal trade under CITES for the year 2000. DATA RELIABILITY AND CAUTIONARY NOTES: Data on Year CITES Ratified shows parties to CITES, but does not include information on signatories to the convention that have not yet ratified. These data also do not show the success of Parties to CITES at fulfilling their obligations under the Convention. Net International Legal Trade Reported by CITES is limited to permits issued for export, re-export, and import of wildlife or wildlife products. The degree of trade amongst countries that are both importers and exporters of a group of live wildlife or skins is under- estimated. Species traded within national borders and illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products are not reflected in these figures. Illegal trade in wildlife products is estimated to be in the billions of dollars annually and to involve hundreds of millions of plant and animal specimens. In addition, trade that occurs within the borders of a single country are also not included in this data set. CITES trade data also do not reflect legal trade between non-CITES members. Data on mortality of individuals during capture or collection, transit, or quarantine are not reflected in these numbers. SOURCES Year CITES Ratified: Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) Secretariat. List of Contracting Parties. Available on-line at: http://www.cites.org/eng/parties/alphabet.shtml (United Nations Environment Program, Nairobia, Kenya, May 2002). Net International Legal Trade Reported by CITES: United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) annual report data, WCMC CITES Trade Database (UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, U.K., July 2002).