(Proposal 19): Transfer from Appendix II to

Appendix I of Psittacus erithacus in accordance

with Resolution Conf. 9.24 (Rev. CoP16), Annex 1.

The African grey parrot is among the most traded bird species in the world, particularly in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East.

Severe population declines have been noted in 20 of the 22 range states including Burundi, Cameroon, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ghana has seen a decline of between 95-99% of its population over the past 30 years and similar situation is ongoing in many other range states where it is now very rare or even extinct, e.g Benin, Burundi, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Togo1,2,3,4.

The driver for these declines is trapping for the wild bird trade, with habitat-loss also having significant impacts. In less than two decades, almost 750,000 wild-caught African

grey and Timneh parrots, (primarily African greys), have been traded internationally5. In the late 1990’s exports from Cameroon accounted for 48% of the trade6, and with some estimates suggesting up to 90% of trapped birds died before export, up to 100,000 birds per year were captured in Cam-eroon, and over one million wild-caught parrots regionally7.

Habitat loss also has significant impacts, especially on iso-lated populations on the periphery of the range. Based upon rates of overall forest loss, it is estimated that West Africa has already lost 90% of the original moist forest and rates of forest loss in the Congo basin are increas-ing, having doubled from the 1990s to early 2000s8,9.

Serious concerns have been raised regarding manage-ment of existing trade in this species. These include re-ports of permit irregularities and importers reporting quantities imported regularly exceeding export quotas and the number of export permits issued by export-ing Parties. From 2007 to 2013 a total of 28,721 indi-viduals were traded in excess of the published quotas.

CITES COP 17 ZSL BRIEFING NOTE AFRICAN GREY PARROT(COP17 PROPOSAL 19)

1 Clemmons JR. 2003. Status Survey of the African Grey Parrot (Psittacus erithacus timneh) and Development of a Management Program in Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. CITES, Geneva, Switzerland.2 da Costa Lopes, D. 2014. O Papagaio-Cinzento-de-Timneh, Psittacus timneh no arquipélago dos Bijagós: Contribuições para o estudo do estatuto, ecologia e conservação de uma espécie ameaçada. Dissertation submitted for M.Sc. in Biology and Conservation, University of Lisbon, Portugal.3 Martin RO, Gilardi JD, Johnson R, Kariuki Ndang’ang’a P, Fotso RC, Drori O, Perrin M. 2014a. Grey parrot Psittacus harvesting for conservation must have a robust scientific basis: Com-mentary on Tamungang et al.(2013). International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation, 6(11), 750–753.4 CITES.2014. Review of Significant Trade in specimens of Appendix-II species. Psittacus erithacus. 27th meeting of the Animals Committee. Document #: AC27 Doc. 12.4 ; pp 27-415 UNEP-WCMC. 2013. Review of Significant Trade: Species selected by the CITES Animals Committee following CoP15 and retained in the review following AC26.6 Waugh, D. 2010. Recent trade, capture of wild African Grey Parrots. AFA Watchbird 37(1): 43-45.7 BirdLife International. 2013. Psittacus erithacus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013: e.T22724813A48141088. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-2.RLTS.T22724813A48141088.en. Downloaded on 15 September 2016.8 Ickowitz A, Slayback D, Asanzi P, Nasi R. 2015. Agriculture and deforestation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A synthesis of the current state of knowledge. Occasional Paper 119. Bogor, Indonesia: CIFOR.9 Ernst C, Mayaux P, Verhegghen A, Bodart C, Christophe M and Defourny P. 2012. National Forest Cover Change in Congo Basin: Deforestation, Reforestation, Degradation and Regenera-tion for the years 1990, 2000 and 2005. Global Change Biology, 19(4), 1173–1187.

10 CITES. 2016. Notification to the parties. Democratic Republic of the Congo. Recommendation to suspend trade in African grey parrots. No. 2016/02111 CITES. 2012. NOTIFICATION TO THE PARTIES. No. 2012/021. Geneva, 12 March 2012. CONCERNING: CAMEROON. Verification of export permits.

This included specimens exported from countries with no published quota and 2,983 were exported from countries with quotas of zero whilst 4,440 were reported to have originated in non-range countries. Undercover investigations conducted by investigative journalists in early 2013, further revealed large-scale abuses involving corruption, photocopying export permits for multiple shipments, and yearly trapping of thousands from areas where trapping is prohibited.

Following this, the CITES Secretariat visited the DRC in 2015 and identified issues with the cancellation of permits and issuance of replacements; lack of security of the physical location of the CITES Management Authority; concerns regarding the relationship between the Management and Scientific Authorities; issuance of export permits with validity periods in excess of 6 months, export quota consistently being exceeded since 2008 and an inability to verify the legal origin of the parrots harvested in different provinces of DRC and a lack of recent scientific studies on the status their populations to inform a solid non-detriment finding. This resulted at the 66th meeting (SC66, Geneva, 11-15 January 2016)10, the Standing Committee recommending a trade suspension from DRC.

There have been similar concerns regarding trade in

Cameroon resulting in formal notifications in 2012 of multiple recent cases of fraudulent permits accompanying shipments originating from Cameroon11. The Secretariat recommended that Parties not accept any CITES export permits or certificates allegedly issued by Cameroon unless their validity had been confirmed by the Secretariat.

Captive breeding is ongoing in zoos and on a commercial and private basis in Europe and elsewhere and these efforts should be expanded in order to both meet demands and assist with re-introduction and supplementation efforts for conservation purposes. Captive-bred and reared birds are of a better temperament than wild-caught birds, more easily kept as pets, and they also do not pose the health risks associated with moving wild-caught birds across the globe.

Over-harvesting compounded by poor regulation and management, fraudulent use of permits and clear breaches of established quota has all resulted in the severe population decline of the African grey Parrot, further exacerbated by habitat loss and degradation. As a consequence ZSL considered criteria for transfer of the species to Appendix I clearly met.

ZSL strongly encourages Parties to support Proposal 19 and the range states seeking to strengthen protection for the African grey parrot.

For more information please contact:

Paul De Ornellas, Programme manager Africa & Lead, Illegal Wildlife Trade (paul.deornellas@zsl.org)

Julian Easton, Deputy country director, Cameroon (Julian.easton@zsl.org)

Tom Jennings, Senior Press Officer Science andConservation (tom.jennings@zsl.org)