Proving Legality The Trade in Endemic Caribbean Reptiles

Proving Legality deals with the issuing of legal acquisition findings (LAFs)—the mechanism used to prevent trade from being permitted in animals or plants that were not legally obtained.

To date, this is an issue that has received relatively little attention within CITES, yet according to the study: “A robust LAF is a powerful tool as it should mean that permits are not issued for international trade if the specimen or the breeding stock were obtained illegally.”

By contrast, the means by which countries can assess whether export of a species is sustainable, through the issuing of a non-detriment finding (NDF), has received far more attention within CITES, with a Resolution on the topic adopted by Parties and a range of guidance materials developed to support countries when making NDFs.

The current meeting of CITES will discuss a draft Resolution to strengthen LAFs (which includes non-binding guidance to Parties).

A CITES Resolution to strengthen LAFs would reduce opportunities for international trade in illegally harvested and smuggled specimens or their offspring if adopted at CoP18 and fully implemented by Parties

Willow Outhwaite, TRAFFIC's Senior Programme Officer

The Caribbean region is highly biodiverse and has a large number of endemic reptile species, many of which are traded internationally—both legally and illegally. Around 6% of the 750 native reptiles are currently listed in CITES Appendix I or II, which regulates their international trade.

The study included a review of the CITES Trade Database and online adverts and found that most reported trade in Caribbean reptile CITES-listed species is between non-range States, and that some of this trade is likely in smuggled specimens or frequently their offspring which have subsequently been produced in captivity.

For some species, despite no trade from the wild reported in the CITES Trade Database, seizures indicate offtake from the wild continues. While known illegal offtake levels for some species may appear to be relatively low, any unregulated trade is of concern as many of these species are highly range-restricted and rare.

The document highlights the need for importing and (re-)exporting countries to ensure any international trade in Caribbean endemic reptiles is limited to specimens of legal origin. It also highlights the need for sustainable funding for the CITES review process to identify cases of false claims of captive-breeding.