Review of seizures of protected orchids in Nepal

There is evidence that Nepal’s orchids are subject to much wider illegal and unsustainable harvest and trade. This review provides an overview of seizures occurring during 2010 and 2020 collected from the official records of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), and the Division Forest Offices, and newspaper seizure reports. There were 32 seizures involving a total of 28,315kg of orchids ranging from 4.4kg to 9,364kg. Despite the limitations of seizure data for estimating volumes or detecting trends, they reflect the illegal international trade in violation of CITES legislation that can act as evidence for enforcement actions.