TRAFFIC Europe
Region: More than 50 countries, extending from Greenland, south to Crete and east to include all the territory of the former Soviet Union, plus overseas territories of European countries, such as French Polynesia, Réunion and the Netherlands Antilles
Offices: Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Russia, Sweden, UK
Founded: 1990
1st Director: Tom De Meulenaer
Current Director: vacant
Contact Details
Regional overview
Europe is a net importer of wildlife and wildlife products, but is also a significant supplier of, for example caviar, Swordfish, Saiga Antelope horn, hunting trophies, dried medicinal plants and plant bulbs.
Within it, the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU) constitute one of the top three wildlife consumer markets in the world (alongside the USA and Japan). The EU is also an important decision-making centre, directly influencing world trade patterns and international conservation policies.
Across Europe, there are very different levels of wildlife trade management, with some countries providing exemplary models of regulation and policies for sustainable use of wildlife resources, while others have deficient regulations and weak enforcement.
Office history and key wildlife trade decisions in the region
TRAFFIC’s first national office was established in 1980. In those days, much wildlife trade in Europe was unregulated and many European countries were not Parties to CITES. Where laws did exist to regulate wildlife trade, they were not always well enforced. Today, the situation is much improved, although TRAFFIC continues to promote the conservation and sustainable use of wildlife, particularly in the Russian Far East and strives for better implementation of CITES and related EU regulations in the region.
1980: first national office opened in UK
1981: national office opened in Germany, with a focus on the German fur trade
1984: TRAFFIC Netherlands begins operations, and opens an office a year later. Early work focuses on plants, parrots and reptiles; national office opened in Belgium, and assists the government with implementation of its newly signed up commitments to CITES as well as co-ordinating studies on the parrot trade in Europe
1985: TRAFFIC Committee, the governing body of TRAFFIC established
1986: TRAFFIC Germany assists in revising national legislation, particularly on CITES implementation; national office begins operations in Austria as a branch of WWF Austria (closed in 1990); national office opened in Italy, focusing on reptile skin and leather trade and CITES implementation
1987: national office opened in Paris, within the WWF-France offices, focusing on CITES implementation and the skin, ivory, live bird and frogs’ legs trades
1990: TRAFFIC first regional office established in Belgium, with regional projects on CITES implementation, eastern Europe, and the plant, reptile skin and tropical timber trades
1991-3: organized missions to eastern European countries and set up CITES training seminars in the Russian Federation, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Baltic republics
1992: major study on plant trade published (The wild plant trade in Europe: Results of a survey of European nurseries), highlighting the need for harmonizing legislation within the EU; widespread unregulated trade of cat furs, ivory and sea turtle items documented in Greece (The control of wildlife trade in Greece); CITES Standing Committee recommend Parties cease wildlife trade with Italy
1993: TRAFFIC assists Italian government with overhaul and introduction of vastly improved wildlife legislation; Greece joins CITES
1992-3: contributed technical advice to campaigns to promote dolphin-friendly tuna 1994: Romania joins CITES; published report into European reptile skin trade (International trade in reptile skins: A review and analysis of the main consumer markets, 1983-91)
1994-5: surveyed wildlife trade in the former Soviet Union; national office opened in Moscow
1996: undertook major survey of Europe’s medicinal and aromatic plants in trade; Turkey joins CITES; publication report into sturgeon trade (Sturgeons of the Caspian Sea and the international trade in caviar)
1995-6: conducted regional review of shark fisheries and trade
1997: participated in the drafting of new, powerful EU wildlife trade legislation that came into force in June; organized a multi-language public awareness campaign about the new EU regulations
1998: results of 1996 plant survey published (Europe’s medicinal and aromatic plants: their use, trade and conservation); improved CITES-related legislation introduced in Greece; published review of illegal wildlife trade in Russia and Central Asia
1999: hosted the first symposium on the conservation of medicinal plants in trade in Europe; published a review of the effectiveness of EU regulations (Compilation and review of the EU wildlife trade regulation implementation reports); published report into Musk Deer trade (On the scent: Conserving Musk Deerthe uses of Musk and Europe's role in its trade); published report into Swordfish and Bluefin Tuna trade in Europe (Slipping the net: Spain’s compliance with ICCAT recommendations for Swordfish and Bluefin Tuna)
2000: signed a joint declaration with more than 80 signatures from industry, practitioners, conservation orgaizations over the sustainable use and conservation of medicinal plants
2001: jointly organized with IUCN a European-wide workshop to improve implementation of EU wildlife trade regulations; published report into Russian Far East fisheries (Trawling in the mist: Industrial fisheries in the Russian part of the Bering Sea); compiled information on European Eel fisheries and reviewed trade controls for whale meat in Norway
2002: CITES implementation into EU accession countries examined (Focus On EU Enlargement and Wildlife trade: Review of Cites implementation In candidate countries)
2003: reptile trade into EU reviewed (Hot trade in cool creatures: a review of the live reptile trade in the European Union in the 1990s with a focus on Germany)
2004: report into challenges following EU expansion published (Expanding borders: New Challenges for Wildlife Trade Controls in the European Union); major report into Musk Deer trade published (No Licence To Kill: The population and harvest of musk deer and trade in musk in the Russian Federation and Mongolia); report into trade in CITES-listed timber species in the EU published (Looking under the veneer: Implementation manual on EU timber trade control: Focus on CITES-listed trees)
2005: report into fur trade in Russian Far East published (Trapping a living: Conservation and socio-economic aspects of the fur trade in the Russian Far East)
2007: The International Standard for Sustainable Wild Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (ISSC-MAP) launched; published a seminal report into the EU and wildlife trade (Opportunity or threat: the role of the European Union in global wildlife trade); EC unveils Action Plan to improve wildlife trade enforcement within the EU at CITES meeting in the Netherlands (CoP14); several reports on caviar trade published—UK introduces caviar labelling scheme
