Answer · for Everyone, Researchers

Are plants trafficked as much as animals?

Plants are 15% of seized shipments reported to CITES but only 11% of news cases: timber, orchids and medicinal plants are trafficked far more than they are reported.

15% of CITES seizures are plants

Plants in CITES seizures (%)15
Plants in news cases (%)11

Who answers

CITES Trade Database seized shipments (source I), reported by governments to UNEP-WCMC
Public reports (WildTrace) 194 official, 315 corroborated, 1,391 single report

What the number cannot tell you

CITES lists many more plant species than news ever names; plant blindness cuts both ways.

Browse plant groups → All questions →

Rebuilt daily from the WildTrace data. Cite: Verma, T. K. (2026). WildTrace: the open atlas of illegal wildlife trade. Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.22902819