The Illegal Plant Trade Coalition was launched on 9 October 2025 at the IUCN World Conservation Conference. This Coalition takes action to understand and mitigate the illegal plant trade, encouraging everyone in the chain of sale from harvesting to the end consumer of plants to think twice, trade right. The goal is to prevent the illegal wildlife trade from causing species extinction, by protecting threatened plant species, supporting behavioural change interventions, promoting sustainable alternatives through propagation, verifying vendors and sales platforms, and reducing plant poaching and habitat destruction in source countries.

Central to the Coalition’s strategy is the recognition that prevention is more effective and equitable than reactive enforcement. Reducing illegal plant trade requires greater awareness amongst buyers, making purchase and trade of illegally sourced plants harder and less profitable, strengthening legal supply chains and supporting conservation-positive livelihoods. To do this, the Coalition draws on principles from conservation, situational crime prevention and behavioural change.

The illegal plant trade is a multifaceted, global crisis, and as awareness through the Coalition’s efforts grows, projects that address the illicit trade are being developed. Since its 2025 launch, discussions across the Coalition and its wider network have focused on strengthening collaboration to address illegal plant trade through improved data collection and monitoring of online markets. A key priority is building stronger connections between plant conservation science, horticulture, enforcement agencies, botanic gardens and related sectors to ensure sharing of knowledge and coordinated responses.

The Coalition has benefited from strong engagement within the IUCN community through collaboration with the Species Survival Commission specialist groups. These partnerships connect the IUCN Red List with field expertise, horticultural knowledge, communication and messaging, and emerging intelligence on illicit trade pathways. A major milestone was the adoption of Motion 083 at the World Conservation Conference—Urgent action to prevent illegal succulent plant trade—recognizing the scale of trafficking of illegally sourced flora and the urgency of tackling this threat.

Momentum continued at the CITES Conference of the Parties 20 in Samarkand (24 November–5 December 2025), where Information Document 76 was submitted by the UK on behalf of Botanic Gardens Conservation International, who host the Illegal Plant Trade Coalition. This Document reinforced international recognition of challenges, including online trade, species identification and data availability. The discussions emphasized that threats from the plant trade are frequently detected too late, reinforcing the Convention’s focus on prevention.

The Coalition is now prioritizing collaborative projects, and stronger links between research, policy, science and enforcement. The Illegal Plant Trade Coalition is a collective commitment to extending the conversation on illegal wildlife trade from fauna to include flora, to ensure plants are no longer overlooked in safeguarding biodiversity.

The Coalition offers tiered partnership options including Keystone, Action and Outreach, to enable diverse participation. If you would like to be involved, visit bgci.org/our-work/networks/illegal-plant-trade or contact policy@bgci.org.