CoP17 Prop. 19

Transfer of African Grey Parrot Psittacus erithacus from Appendix II to Appendix I
Proponents: Angola, Chad, European Union, Gabon, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Togoand United States of America
Summary: The African Grey Parrot Psittacus erithacus is a medium-sized frugivorous parrot from forested
parts of Western and Central Africa. It occurs in 22 or 23 range States and has a range estimated at aroundthree million km2, of which nearly 90% is in Central Africa (from eastern Nigeria and Cameroon eastwards),
around half of this in Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has been included in Appendix II under thegeneral listing of Psittaciformes since 1981.
Typically inhabiting dense, moist lowland forest, it may also occur in or at forest edges, clearings, gallery
forest, mangroves, wooded savannah, cultivated areas and gardens. The species often forms large
communal roosts of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of birds and may also congregate in large numbers at
mineral licks1. Breeding is dispersed or loosely colonial2. The nest is in a tree cavity usually between 10 and30m above the ground. In captivity birds have a mean lifespan of around 45 years and first breed at about
five years of age; from this generation time is estimated at just over 15 years. It is estimated that in the wild
15 to 30% of the population breeds in any one year. Clutches comprise three to five eggs; wild productivity
has been estimated at around 0.4 chicks/nest per year 1, or one to 1.8 fledglings per year.
Population density is very variable: estimates in different areas and different habitats range from 0.15 birds
per km2 to two breeding pairs per km2. Combining these figures with estimates of habitat extent, a very roughestimation of between ca. 700,000 and 13 million birds in total was derived in 2008, with 160,000 to 360,000
in West Africa and the remainder in Central Africa2.
Information on changes in population is patchy, not well quantified and often anecdotal. There are indicationsof local declines, some of them marked, over the past two to three decades in countries including Angola,
Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Nigeria, Republic of the Congoand Rwanda, and more widespread marked declines in Ghana 3 and Guinea1, 4. A recent country-wide
estimate in Cameroon of around 200,000 is lower than one made in the mid-1990s (300,000 to 500,000);
however the basis of both these estimates has been questioned and the two are not comparable4. The 2013
BirdLife assessment for the IUCN Red List noted that the rate of decline was hard to quantify, but that a rateof 30 to 49% over three generations might be a conservative estimate. The species was classified in theIUCN Red List as Vulnerable (2013) on this basis.
There is essentially no information on population status or trends for a very large proportion of the range inCentral Africa. Population declines here have been inferred from habitat loss and harvest for international
trade. Loss and fragmentation of forest cover is generally agreed to have affected African Grey Parrot
populations although quantitative data linking the two are lacking. FAO figures indicate that, as a very roughestimation, some 8% of forest cover has been lost in countries within the range of the species between 1990and 2010. However, forest loss has been considerably lower in the Central African basin, where the bulk of
the population is believed to occur, with 4% loss from 1990 to 2010, or roughly 0.2% per year in Democratic
Republic of the Congo.
The African Grey Parrot is a popular pet. Wild-caught birds to supply the demand have featured prominently
in international trade. Records from importers in the CITES Trade Database indicate fluctuating levels oftrade since the early 1980s, averaging around 35,000 birds per year from 1982 to 2006; fluctuations were inpart due to changing trade patterns based on introduction of stricter domestic measures in importing
countries and regions, notably bans on imports of wild birds into the USA in 1992 and into the European
Union in 2005. Declared trade in wild-caught birds since then has been lower, averaging around 11,000 birds
per year according to importers' records (about half this according to exporters). There are numerous reportsof unauthorised or illegal capture and trade, including from Central African parts of the range, but these are
not well-quantified. Estimates of post-capture pre-export mortality of wild birds vary, but average 30 to 40%1.
The CITES Trade Database shows that in recent years South Africa has been reporting the export of large
and rapidly increasing numbers of captive-bred African Grey Parrots as captive-bred, rising from some 8000
in 2007 to ca. 29,000 in 2010 to ca. 76,000 in 2014. A recent assessment indicated that there were over
1600 separate breeding facilities for the species in South Africa with, collectively, around 50,000 breedingpairs5.
The species is vulnerable to trapping at roosts and mineral licks where it tends to congregate, and there are1

CoP17 Prop. 19
reports of population declines at such sites where these have been targeted Error! Bookmark not defined.. However
there is very little information on the intensity of trapping or its impact in large parts of the range.
Legal status varies across the range. In some countries it is completely protected, in others partially. Thespecies has been included in the Review of Significant Trade three times (in the 1980s, in 2004 and 2011)
resulting in recommendations for various exporting range States. Currently Cameroon and Democratic
Republic of the Congo have published annual export quotas (3000 and 5000 respectively)Error! Bookmark notdefined.
. In 2015 the CITES Standing Committee recommended that all Parties suspend imports of African
Grey Parrots from Democratic Republic of the Congo, the major exporter in recent years, because ofpersistent irregularities in the trade (Notification 2016/021).
Analysis: The African Grey Parrot has a very extensive range. Total population is unknown, but it is clearly
not small, and may be very large (several million). There is evidence of severe widespread declines in tworange States in West Africa and declines have been observed elsewhere, particularly in areas where thespecies is known to be collected. Population trends are unknown in a very large proportion of its range
although declines have been inferred from loss of habitat and over-collection. Given the relatively low rate offorest conversion in major parts of the range (notably Central Africa), and the ability of the species to survive
in some modified habitats, habitat loss alone is highly unlikely to have led to a decline in line with theguidelines in Res. Conf. 9.24 (Rev. CoP16), in this case a reduction of 50% in 45 years (three generations).
Given the relatively low productivity of the species, and taking into account estimates of post-capture
mortality, it is likely that much collection has led to population declines in areas where it takes place or hastaken place. Overall, however, there is insufficient information to determine whether these declines havebeen widespread and severe enough for the entire population to have undergone a marked decline in thesense of the Resolution (the Red List Assessment note that the rate of decline is uncertain and may be
between 30% and 49%). It is unclear, therefore whether the species meets the biological criteria for inclusion
in Appendix I or not. Much reported trade is now in captive-bred birds originating outside of range States.
References:Information not referenced in the Summary section is from the Supporting Statement.
1 CITES (2006) Species selected following CoP12 Psittacus erithacus. AC22 Doc. 10.2. Annex I.

https://cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/com/ac/22/E22-10-2-A1.pdf.
2 BirdLife International (2013) Psittacus erithacus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.
3 Annorbah, N.N.D., Collar, N.J. & Marsden, S.J. (2015) Trade and habitat change virtually eliminate the Grey Parrot
Psittacus erithacus from Ghana. Ibis 158: 82-91.
4 Martin, R.O., Perrin, M.R., Boyes, R.S., Abebe, Y.D., Annorbah, N.D., Asamoah, A., Bizimana, D., Bobo, K.S., Bunbury,K.S., Brouwer, J., Diop, M.S., Ewnetu, M., Fotso, R.C., Garteh, J., Hall, P., Holbech, L.H., Madindou, I.R., Maisels, F.,
Mokoko, J., Mulwa, R., Reuleaux, A., Symes, C., Tamungang, S., Yalor, S., Valle, S., Waltert, M. & Wondafrash, M.
(2014) Research and conservation of the larger parrots of Africa and Madagascar: a review of knowledge gaps andopportunities. Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology 85: 205-233.
5 Newton, D. (2016) In litt. to IUCN/TRAFFIC Analyses Team, Cambridge, UK.

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