A comprehensive new study analyzing 22 years of LEMIS data sheds light on the wildlife trade, marking one of the most extensive assessments to date. This research reveals some important findings: from 2000 to 2022, the United States engaged in the trade of almost 30,000 wild species, totaling over 2.85 billion individual animals, with more than half of these coming straight from the wild. These findings are vital because the effect of trade on many of these species remains largely unexplored.
The trade in wildlife poses significant threats to the survival of various species. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) reports that at least 50,000 species participate in this trade. However, this number may be misleading, as it fails to account for some unconventional wildlife trade sectors, like pets or fashion. For instance, recent figures show that the volume of butterflies traded exceeds the entire population of terrestrial arthropods noted in the IPBES report. This raises a crucial question: How many wild species are genuinely being traded globally?
Finding an answer is quite tough. While potentially endangered species due to trade are monitored under CITES, most wildlife trade remains legal and evades comprehensive international regulations and oversight. An exception exists in the United States, where the US Fish and Wildlife Service keeps an eye on wildlife trade through the Law Enforcement Management Information System (LEMIS).
This recent study, led by Professor Alice C. Hughes, an Associate Professor at The University of Hong Kong’s School of Biological Sciences (HKU), in collaboration with an international team of researchers, explores the intricate nature of wildlife trade, resulting in one of the most thorough reports available. Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the study uncovers notable findings: between 2000 and 2022, nearly 30,000 wild species and over 2.85 billion individual animals were traded in the US, more than half of which were sourced from the wild. These outcomes are particularly significant, given the lack of assessment regarding the trade’s impact on most of these species.
Although the US maintains detailed records of traded species, such data is lacking in many other countries. For numerous species involved in trade, we lack information concerning their removal rates or wild population sizes, which makes it impossible to assess whether the trade is sustainable. However, in cases where evaluations have been performed, most populations subjected to harvesting have shown declines.
This paper highlights the vast scope and diversity of legal wildlife trade. Surprisingly, less than 0.01% of wildlife trade recorded in the US was classified as illegal, demonstrating that billions of individuals are traded legally and that a large portion of these comes from the wild. The study also emphasizes how little we know about the global wildlife trade. The absence of systematic monitoring not only hinders our understanding or regulation of the trade but also obstructs the potential for sustainable management.
By improving our understanding of wildlife trade, this study establishes codes that will facilitate the standardization and analysis of future trade data. With the second stage of CBD-COP16 set for February 2025, it is intended that this paper highlights the need to evaluate how wildlife trade data is recorded and shared, promoting initiatives to create more comparable global datasets.
