New listings, persistent demands: quantifying illegality risks for CITES Appendix II tree species in Brazil

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) is the earliest international agreement recognising that global collaboration is needed to address the environmental consequences of trade. Yet its potential to curb illegal logging pressure on key timber species has remained underutilized. A new wave of Appendix II listings raises the question of the instrument’s renewed potential to support long-standing legality, sustainability and traceability demands across timber production systems.

This study presents a spatially explicit illegality risk assessment for three listed tree species groups relevant to Brazil: Handroanthus spp. and Tabebuia spp. (ipê), Dipteryx spp. (cumaru) and Cedrela spp. (cedar), in the two largest producing states, Pará and Mato Grosso.