Flipbook_ICCWC15_FINAL - Flipbook - Page 19
THE CITES ILLEGAL TRADE DATABASE
The CITES Illegal Trade Database dissemination
platform was launched in 2023, and with it a new
wealth of data became readily available for CITES
Parties to consult. The database contains global
information on individual wildlife seizures as
reported by CITES Parties through their Annual
Illegal Trade Reports (AITR) to CITES since 2016. The
AITR is an annual data collection that gathers
information on individual wildlife seizure events,
including the amounts seized, trafficking routes,
taxon information, mode of transport, amongst
other elements for each reported seizure event.
The CITES Illegal Trade
Database currently
contains close to
200,000 seizure records
from over 800 AITRs
contributed by more
than 146 countries and
territories for the period
2016–2024.
This data has been used to inform the WWCRs. The latest report published in 2024 showed
that wildlife crime continues to take place at significant scale and that 162 countries and
territories and approximately 4,000 plant and animal species were affected by it in the
period from 2015 to 2021. It also shows that some progress was made, noting that a
combination of efforts from Parties yielded positive outcomes and resulted in the
reduction of trafficking in elephant and rhino specimens, as two examples.
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