A Literature Synthesis of Actions to Tackle Illegal Parrot Trade

Abstract

The order Psittaciformes is one of the most prevalent groups in the illegal wildlife trade. Efforts to understand this threat have focused on describing the elements of the trade itself: actors, extraction rates, and routes. However, the development of policy-oriented interventions also requires an understanding of how research aims and actions are distributed across the trade chain, regions, and species. We used an action-based approach to review documents published on illegal Psittaciformes trade at a global scale to analyze patterns in research aims and actions. Research increased exponentially in recent decades, recording 165 species from 46 genera, with an over representation of American and Australasian genera. Most of the research provided basic knowledge for the intermediary side of the trade chain. Aims such as the identification of network actors, zoonosis control, and aiding physical detection had numerous but scarcely cited documents (low growth rate), while behavior change had the highest growth rate. The Americas had the highest diversity of research aims, contributing with basic knowledge, implementation, and monitoring across the whole trade chain. Better understanding of the supply side dynamics in local markets, actor typology, and actor interactions are needed. Protecting areas, livelihood incentives, and legal substitutes are actions under-explored in parrots, while behavior change is emerging.

Confounding Rules Can Hinder Conservation: Disparities in Law Regulation on Domestic and International Parrot Trade within and among Neotropical Countries

“…Although there continues to be significant figures of illegal parrot trade at the international level [11,12], these numbers are no longer comparable to those of legal exports, implying a great reduction in absolute terms of wild-sourced parrots traded internationally. However, in source countries, law enforcement does not appear to have such a significant effect on reducing illegal domestic parrot trade [13].…”

Assessing the Relative Impacts of Roadkill and Nest Poaching on the Population Viability of the Blue-and-Yellow Macaw, Ara ararauna (Aves: Psittaciformes), in a Brazilian National Park

“…Many actions are demanded regionally. I is necessary to develop behavior change campaigns aiming (i) to facilitate the understanding of the threats posed by nest poaching to the macaw species as well as its overall biological importance [32,33] and (ii) to reduce the demand for wild-caught macaws [30,58]. Furthermore, communities living in close proximity to conservation units must have other sources of income in order to stop nest poaching from being a desirable activity [29,32,33].…”

“…Furthermore, communities living in close proximity to conservation units must have other sources of income in order to stop nest poaching from being a desirable activity [29,32,33]. Law enforcement is also necessary to reduce nest poaching and for this, it is essential to form a comprehensive basic and general knowledge of the trade chain [58]. More intervention efforts and monitoring are important to prohibit captive facilities from acting as laundering for wild-caught animals [30].…”

Roadside Car Surveys: Methodological Constraints and Solutions for Estimating Parrot Abundances across the World

“…Estimating parrot abundance is challenging because many species naturally occur at very low densities [4], while others have heavily patched distributions or very restricted ranges [3]. Moreover, widespread threats such as habitat loss, illegal trade, and persecution [7][8][9] may be drastically reducing parrot population sizes and ranges, making the design of monitoring programs even more difficult. Moreover, some parrot species are highly gregarious and aggregate in large communal roots, and thus estimates of overall population size can be obtained when all roosts are located and can be properly surveyed [10].…”