news
CITES Scientific Committees Discuss Sustainability of Wildlife Trade
news
Python Conservation Partnership Releases First Report on Captive Breeding
story highlights
The 'Python Conservation Partnership,' a collaboration between Kering, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Boa and Python Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), released their first report, evaluating the economic feasibility and viability of captive breeding of pythons as a possible element of sustainable use and conservation of the species.
The report will be presented at the meeting of the Animals Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in May 2014.
31 March 2014: The ‘Python Conservation Partnership,’ a collaboration between Kering, the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the Boa and Python Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), released their first report, evaluating the economic feasibility and viability of captive breeding of pythons as a possible element of sustainable use and conservation of the species. The report will be presented at the meeting of the Animals Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in May 2014.
The report, titled ‘Assessment of Python Breeding Farms Supplying the International High-end Leather Industry,’ seeks to inform sustainable practices in python trade when sourcing skins. According to the publication, python farming is a tool to reduce pressure on wild python populations in Asia, as part of a holistic approach to python conservation. Additional research on python farming and trade, it notes, is required to determine its conservation benefits and impacts on livelihoods.
The report also underscores that greater emphasis on the conservation of python species in the wild is needed. Daniel Natusch, one of the authors of the report and member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Boa and Python Specialist Group, stressed the need to keep in sight the overall conservation goals and the greater potential of wild harvest systems to encourage conservation of wild pythons and their habitats.
Key recommendations include the implementation of systems to ensure that python farming is well documented and that any trade is sustainable, legal and does not encourage trafficking from the wild. The Python Conservation Partnership is currently addressing this issue by working with Viet Nam to research innovative ways to determine whether skins are derived from captive-bred or wild sources. [IUCN News] [Publication: Assessment of Python Breeding Farms Supplying the International High-end Leather Industry] [Biodiversity Policy and Practice stories on Pythons]