03/04/2016
Once an emerging threat, wildlife and forest crime today has transformed into one of the largest transnational organized criminal activities, alongside drug trafficking, arms, and trafficking in human beings. Beyond immediate environmental impacts, the illegal trade in natural resources is depriving developing economies of billions of dollars in lost revenues.
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Black rhinos are critically endangered by poaching |
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon highlighted in his statement on the day that: “Illegal wildlife trade undermines the rule of law and threatens national security; it degrades ecosystems and is a major obstacle to the efforts of rural communities and indigenous peoples striving to sustainably manage their natural resources. Combatting this crime is not only essential for conservation efforts and sustainable development, it will contribute to achieving peace and security in troubled regions where conflicts are fuelled by these illegal activities.”
The number of elephants killed in Africa annually is in the range of 20,000 - 25,000/year out of a population of 420,000 - 650,000. According to recent data from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, as many as 100,000 were killed in a 3-year period of 2010 - 2012. For forest elephants, the population declined by an estimated 62% during 2002 - 2011. Poached African ivory may represent an end-user street value in Asia of US$ 165 - US$ 188 million of raw ivory, in addition to ivory from Asian sources.
According to the recent reports by CITES, overall elephant poaching rates remained virtually unchanged in 2014 compared to 2013, and still exceed natural elephant population growth rates, meaning a continued decline in elephant numbers overall is likely. In 2014 alone, 1,215 rhinos were poached in South Africa, translating to 1 rhino killed every 8 hours. Approximately 94% of rhino poaching takes place in South Africa, which has the largest remaining populations. The involvement of organized syndicates has seen poaching rise from less than 20 (in 2007) to over 1,000 in South Africa (in 2013), and rhino horn poached in 2014 is valued at an estimated US$ 63 to US$ 192 million.
The illicit traffic in live great apes is an increasingly serious threat to chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos in Africa and orangutans in Asia, with seizures averaging 1.3/week since 2014. Many more great apes die during capture and captivity than ever enter the illicit traffic; it is estimated that a minimum of 220 chimpanzees, 106 orangutans, 33 bonobos, and 15 gorillas have been lost from the wild over the last 14 months, reported The Great Apes Survival Partnership (GRASP)
The Spix’s macaw is also one of the most endangered species on the planet with only 80 Spix’s macaws in the world , mainly live in Spain, German and Qatar. An other endangered animal is Pangolins, known as ‘scaly anteaters’ among the world’s most trafficked mammals, with over 1 million individuals taken from the wild in the past decade.
The illegal trade in precious timber such as rosewood is lucrative as well, well organized, transnational and involves corruption. Substantial volumes of CITES-listed rosewood are smuggled from Madagascar, Southeast Asia and Central America. Between 2011 - 2014, more than 4,800 tonnes of illegal Rosewood that originated from Madagascar were seized by authorities in various countries in Eastern Africa and Asia. In December 2014, Hong Kong Customs made a seizure of 92 tonnes of non-declared “Honduras rosewood” arriving from Guatemala via Mexico. Illegal trade in “Siamese Rosewood” from Southeast Asia has escalated in recent years, too.
To solve the problem, The United Nations Development Programme launching new initiatives to halt the illegal trade in wildlife in Asia and Africa, tackling wildlife crime by focusing on law enforcement, regulations, and engaging the private sector and strengthening collaboration between governments within and across the two regions.
In mid-2014, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime also launched a “Global Programme for Combating Wildlife and Forest Crime” to build government capacity in preventing and combating these crimes at regional, national and local levels, and to raise awareness to reduce demand for wild fauna and flora. The Global Programme is working with the wildlife law enforcement community to ensure that wildlife crime, illegal logging, and related crimes are treated as serious transnational organized crimes.
HT (UNEP Source)
