Captive-produced animals and artificially propagated plants

Rather than being taken directly from the wild, animals traded under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) are increasingly sourced from facilities where such animals are produced in captivity - although sometimes the parents of the traded specimens are from the wild. During the early years of the Convention (1975-1989), 96 per cent of animals in international trade were taken from the wild. Since then, there has been a significant change and, today, international trade in animals is mainly in specimens from captive-produced sources. This trade includes reptiles for skins and birds and ornamental fish for pets.

While the drafters of the Convention did foresee, and provide provisions to cater for, trade in such animals, they viewed this modality as an exception. At the time, the underlying policy assumption was that production in captivity was likely to affect the survival of the species less than the removal of animals from the wild. The provisions in the Convention reflected this assumption.

As the proportion of trade in produced animals increased, a number of Resolutions and Decisions were adopted by the Parties to regulate and define the terms and conditions for such production and trade. But, to date, no single consistent and coherent framework exists.

The significant increase in trade in produced animals has given rise to some concerns related to the control of the production and trade, including false or incorrect declarations of the source of the animals.