Joint conservation and e-commerce action to urgently combat illegal plant trade

Wild plants are being illegally harvested at such a rate that, in many cases, their existence is now under threat, with most sales occurring on social media and ecommerce platforms. 

Demand for wild plants, such as ‘succulent’ plants, for homes and gardens across the globe has risen rapidly in recent years. Buyers are increasingly turning to online platforms to find plants, some searching for discounts, others looking for rare specimens.

TRAFFIC and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, are working with eBay to develop a blueprint for its own and other platforms to strengthen online trading policies for the sale of plants and prevent illegal sales.

Work to engage multiple other e-commerce platforms is also underway.

TRAFFIC has been researching the illegal trade in native succulent plants from South Africa. Many of these plants, poached from the wild, end up for sale online around the world. Illegal trade can hide in plain sight, mimicking the legal trade in cultivated specimens grown by responsible plant growers.

Since 2019, more than one million illegally harvested succulent plants have been seized by law enforcement authorities in South Africa, following a dramatic rise in plant poaching to meet the growing demand. This illegal trade of native plants is destroying precious ecosystems, feeding organised crime, and depriving local communities of livelihoods. 

The convenience of buying plants online has made it easier than ever before to bring nature indoors. Many buyers won’t be aware of the ethical, sustainability, and legal factors that underpin this trade. Many don’t realise that the availability of some plants online may be threatening the survival of the species in the wild. 

Funded by the UK Government through the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund, this new collaboration between conservation and e-commerce aims to improve the online trading landscape for the benefit of plants and plant enthusiasts alike. 

“We really welcome this partnership with eBay, which is a critical first step in this exciting collaboration between conservation and e-commerce to protect the existence of many of these plants in the wild, the landscapes in which they grow and the millions of people who live in communities where these plants have thrived for thousands of years,” said Dominique Prinsloo, TRAFFIC Project Manager.

“To tackle the complex poaching and trade issues of today, we need to work collaboratively to address legislation, policies and detection around the online plant trade,” added Prinsloo.

“Preventing the online sale of illegally harvested plants, while also supporting legal trade from responsible plant producers, poses both technical and regulatory challenges. We really appreciate eBay’s support in seeking ways to improve the transparency of online trade in succulent plant species, which can play a crucial role in helping to protect their wild populations, while also benefiting responsible buyers and vendors by allowing sustainable alternatives to thrive,” said David Whitehead, Project Lead at RBG Kew. 

Mike Carson, Senior Director, eBay Regulatory team, said: “eBay looks forward to continuing working with TRAFFIC and RBG Kew to explore opportunities to enhance communication to our customers about the domestic and international requirements for plant trade. This includes a test case for succulent plants from southern Africa.” 

eBay has allocated significant resources to help prevent illegal wildlife trade on their platform. According to eBay, in 2023 it blocked or removed 500,000 items that violated its prohibited wildlife policies. 

The company continues to apply more measures to strengthen its enforcement and expand prohibited wildlife policies to include a broader list of endangered species. Through its engagement with TRAFFIC and RBG Kew, this list will now include the addition of plant species traded on its platforms.

‘FloraGuard’ - innovation to help detect illegal online trafficking

A key tool at RBG Kew’s disposal is FloraGuard, a web-crawling algorithm developed in collaboration with the University of Southampton. By searching for keywords relating to the online trade in threatened plant species, the software can search for and identify online adverts which offer these species for sale. While human expertise is still required to evaluate search results, the use of such software provides a valuable shortcut for monitoring the online trade in wildlife products, and for detecting patterns in trade to inform conservation or trade policy actions.

Use of this technique will enable RBG Kew to better monitor the trade in threatened species across several online platforms, to highlight cases where advert content could be improved, and to monitor the impacts of other interventions, such as new trading policies introduced at platform level.

“Due to the sheer scale of online markets for plant products, the use of specialist search technology is a great aid to conservationists looking to keep an eye on certain species, and detect changes in horticultural trends. What we would like to see within plant adverts is far more detail about the provenance and production of the specimens offered for sale, as well as information on the requirements for CITES permits and phytosanitary certificates , which are frequently absent from advertisements posted online,” said David Whitehead, Project Lead at RBG Kew.

What can buyers do? 

For plant lovers, the challenge is clear: how do we fill our homes with mood-boosting greenery, without unwittingly supporting unethical, unsustainable, and illegal trade? Before making a purchase, take a moment to consider these five essential questions.

1. Was this plant sourced from the wild or nursery-grown/artificially propagated? 

Some clues can help you tell if a plant was taken from the wild as opposed to grown in a nursery. These include irregular/non-uniform shape and form, marks or scars from growing in their natural environments, large size of plants as they can take a long time to mature. In addition, a change in form could reveal that the plant has transitioned from the wild to a pot and the shape of roots grows according to the substrate or where the plant has grown, so their roots may be cut or torn. 

2. Is this plant protected by any domestic or international legislation? 

Most countries have a list of plants protected domestically through national legislation. At an international level, many plant species are listed on Appendix I, II, or III of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). If you intend to trade plants listed in the CITES Appendices, familiarise yourself with the conditions associated with each Appendix. The CITES status of a species can be checked by searching its scientific name on the Species+ website. 

3. Is this plant known to be threatened by trade?

Buying plants online that were wild-harvested without the correct permissions may put their populations at risk, especially those already listed as Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, or Extinct in the Wild on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Before purchasing a plant, type its scientific name into the search bar of the IUCN Red List portal to check its status. You’ll find information on trade threats, range, population size, habitat, ecology, and more. All plants have a fascinating story to tell, and before clicking that ‘buy’ button it’s worth doing a little extra research and asking the vendor some questions if required.

4. Can you be sure the harvesting of this plant isn’t putting people at risk?

Sometimes, criminal syndicates hire and exploit local communities to illegally harvest wild plants. To ensure a legal and sustainable stream of income for local communities, it’s best to buy plants from certified nurseries which have the right permits. However, determining this from online plant adverts can be challenging. Look for certifications from trusted independent bodies such as FairWild, Fairtrade Flowers and Plants, and Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network, etc. If you suspect that plants are harvested illegally, report it to the commerce platform you are using.

5. Are you purchasing from overseas? 

It’s important to know where the vendor you are purchasing from is based. International shipments of live plants require phytosanitary health certificates to be issued, and if the species is CITES-listed, CITES permits to be obtained. As permits involve additional costs and timeframes to arrange, it’s best to avoid sellers who offer fast international shipping, who do not make these requirements clear. 

ENDS

Notes

Contact

Email: media@traffic.org or pr@kew.org

About TRAFFIC:

TRAFFIC is driving action to reduce illegal trafficking and enhance benefits to people from legal and sustainable trade of wild species. As a global trusted advisor, we generate evidence, analysis, and solutions to strengthen global and national policy frameworks, and build responsible and fair supply chains.

For more information please visit www.traffic.org

ABOUT ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW

Kew Science is the driving force behind RBG Kew’s mission to understand and protect plants and fungi, for the well-being of people and the future of all life on Earth. Over 470 Kew science staff work with partners in more than 100 countries worldwide to halt biodiversity loss, uncover secrets of the natural world, and to conserve and restore the extraordinary diversity of plants and fungi. Kew’s Science Strategy 2021–2025 lays out five scientific priorities to aid these goals: research into the protection of biodiversity through Ecosystem Stewardship, understanding the variety and evolution of traits in plants and fungi through Trait Diversity and Function; digitising and sharing tools to analyse Kew’s scientific collections through Digital Revolution; using new technologies to speed up the naming and characterisation of plants and fungi through Accelerated Taxonomy; and cultivating new scientific and commercial partnerships in the UK and globally through Enhanced Partnerships. One of Kew’s greatest international collaborations is the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, which has to date stored more than 2.4 billion seeds of over 40,000 wild species of plants across the globe. In 2023, Kew scientists estimated in the State of the World’s Plants and Fungi report that 3 in 4 undescribed plants globally are already likely threatened with extinction.