Bundesamt für Naturschutz

New guidance on captive-breeding of reptiles and amphibians

Species•
CITES
10.05.2022
•
Bonn
The European Union (EU) is one of the global major importers of living reptiles, as well as their parts and products (such as leather) and is therefore responsible for the conservation of respective species. The Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) is responsible for the implementation of different laws in species conservation and to provide the necessary scientific basis. The BfN releases a new guidance for national and international CITES authorities to evaluate the captive breeding of protected reptiles and amphibians. It is now available online as BfN-Skript and was compiled by the German Society of Herpetology and Herpetoculture (DGHT), commissioned by the BfN.
Goniurosaurus luii
Goniurosaurus luii – one of the CITES-species addressed in the new guidance.
© M. van Schingen-Khan

The informative new guidance provides relevant reproduction data for those reptile and amphibian taxa, which were newly included or uplisted in the CITES Appendices I and II at the previous CITES CoP18. The guidance aims to assist national and international CITES authorities in carrying out a plausibility check for the captive breeding of certain species and thereby aids to improve the implementation of the CITES convention.

Background

The international trade in threatened species is regulated by CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Currently, most traded reptiles and amphibians are claimed to be not of wild source. While legal trade in captive bred specimens may contribute to the conservation species, trade in wild specimens that are falsely labelled as captive bred in order to circumvent trade restrictions, can be highly detrimental to wild populations. Therefore, the verification of the source of traded specimens poses an increasing, but important challenge to CITES authorities worldwide.

Guidance