TRAFFIC International

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) was opened for signature in Washington DC on 3rd March 1973, and to date has 182 Parties from across the world. If CITES is to remain a credible instrument for conserving species affected by trade, the decisions of the Parties must be based on the best available scientific and technical information.

With 48 threatened bird species, and the highest number of breeding endemic bird species (11) in mainland Southeast Asia, Viet Nam is a global conservation priority. Many of these threatened species are hunted unsustainably for wildlife trade. Very little is known about the current true scale of the trade in Viet Nam as the most recent research was conducted in 2008.

Central Africa has been identified as one of the main sources of illegal ivory fueling unregulated domestic ivory trade throughout West and Central Africa and overseas destinations, especially Asia, in recent years. This report presents the results of field surveys of ivory markets carried out in 11 cities of five Central African countries in 2007, 2009, 2014 and 2015 by two different researchers, one in 2007 and 2009, and another in 2014 and 2015, using the same methodology.

To gain a better understanding of the presence and potential sources of Southern Bluefish Tuna traded and/or consumed in mainland China, desk-based research and a market survey “snapshot” were carried out.

Singapore is known to play a major role in the global trade and consumption in shark and ray parts, though a country-specific analysis has not been conducted recently. Based on this, TRAFFIC and WWF undertook an exercise to understand the scale of this trade involving Singapore, and the role it plays. This assessment describes the characteristics of shark product trade through Singapore over a ten-year period, from 2005 to 2014 as well as the current regulatory systems in place.