International wildlife trade involves hundreds of millions of individual plants and animals from tens of thousands of species with a market value of millions of dollars. Many of these species are traded at an international scale, and as the population of the world expands so does the international demand for wild products. International trade agreements such as the Convention on Internationally Traded and Endangered Species (CITES) aim is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. The aim of this index is to track changes in the wild status of internationally traded species, and species listed on CITES Appendix I and II.

The data from the IUCN Red List is collected at a species level and an analysis could potentially be carried out at a national scale, although this would be dependent on the availability of data.

Red List Index for birds listed on CITES Appendix I and II

(n=9,794 non-Data Deficient species extant in 1988, 1,447 non-Data Deficient extant CITES-listed species, and 2,601 non-Data Deficient extant internationally traded non-CITES-listed species)

Source: BirdLife International

Over 40% of the world’s bird species are utilized in one way or another and 80% (3,337) of these are internationally traded, primarily as pets. Internationally traded species have declined in status since 1988, although they are, on average, less threatened than utilised species that are not internationally traded. One possible reason for this difference relates to what the species are used for, as internationally traded species tend to be common and attractive species that are used as cage-birds, whereas locally used or nationally-traded species tend to be larger-bodied species that are hunted for food and are more sensitive to exploitation.

CITES-listed birds are more threatened overall than all species on average (i.e. their RLI values are lower), indicating that CITES is, in general, listing species that are more threatened. Among internationally traded species, those listed on CITES Appendix I or II are declining faster than those that are not-CITES listed. However, CITES operates only at an international level, and significant trade may also take place at a local and national level. Therefore, although this index reflects changes in the conservation status of CITES listed species, it not possible to determine a direct causal link between CITES listing and the trends seen in this RLI.

This Red List Index based indicator focuses on the global status of species utilized for trade. National RLIs for utilized species can be calculated either by disaggregating the global indices, or by repeatedly assessing extinction risk at the national scale. Many countries have compiled national red lists (generally for all vertebrate species) which form the basis of the latter approach (see. www.nationalredlist.org) , but so far few have done this twice or more using consistent methods. As they increasingly do so, however, many more national RLIs will become available which can be disaggregated for utilized and non-utilized species.