Wildlife trafficking has not reduced substantially in two decades, reports the World Wildlife and Forest Crime Report. While there are positive signs in reducing the impacts of trafficking on iconic species such as elephants and rhinos, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which produced the report, requires more consistent application to address supply and demand, as well as effective implementation of legislation including anti-corruption laws, as well as stronger monitoring and investigations.

Damage to wildlife remains substantial, according to the report, and confiscations made between 2015 and 2021 indicate that illegal trade is taking place in 162 countries and territories, affecting around 4,000 species of flora and fauna. Of these, 3,250 species are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites). The executive summary of the report details that among the most affected species are rare orchids, succulents, reptiles, fish, birds and mammals. In addition to the damage trafficking does to wildlife, crime can disrupt delicate ecosystems and their functions, including their ability to help stabilize the climate and mitigate climate change.

“Wildlife crime inflicts untold damage on nature and also endangers livelihoods, public health, good governance and our planet’s ability to fight climate change,” said the executive director of Unodc, Ghada Waly. “To confront this crime, we must keep peace with the adaptability and agility of the illegal wildlife trade. “This requires consistent and targeted interventions across both the demand and supply side of the wildlife trafficking chain, efforts to reduce criminal incentives and profits, and greater investment in data, analytics and monitoring capabilities.”

Wildlife traffickers have networks, they are interconnected with the activities of large and powerful organized crime groups that operate in fragile and diverse ecosystems around the world. The report notes that transnational organized crime groups have several functions along the trade chain, for example, exporting, importing, brokering, storing, maintaining and reproducing live specimens or managing the interface with processors. . They take advantage of legal loopholes, inconsistencies in regulations and adapt their methods and routes to evade detection and criminal action.

Corruption, however, is one of the factors that plays a major role in the weakening of regulation and law enforcement measures against illegal wildlife trade, although such cases are rarely pursued as cases. of corruption. In this sense, the report suggests paying more attention to pursuing wildlife traffickers under anti-corruption laws that offer more investigative powers and higher penalties than those provided for in environmental law.