- Report shows that wildlife trafficking persists worldwide despite two decades of concerted action at international and national levels.
- The report says more rapid and measurable progress could be achieved if interventions were informed by stronger scientific evidence.
Image: NPS/X
A new report has shown that iconic wildlife species such as elephants and rhinos still risk being wiped out as a result of wildlife crimes.
The World Wildlife Crime Report 2024 by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime shows that wildlife trafficking persists worldwide despite two decades of concerted action at international and national levels.
The report says more rapid and measurable progress could be achieved if interventions were informed by stronger scientific evidence.
“There are signs of progress in reducing the impacts of trafficking for some iconic species, such as elephants and rhinoceros, but UNODC’s assessment of available evidence gives no confidence that wildlife trafficking overall is being substantially reduced,” part of the report says.
The third edition of the World Wildlife Crime Report probes trends in the illicit trafficking of protected wildlife species.
It also presents systematic analyses of wildlife crime harms and impacts, probes the factors driving wildlife trafficking trends, and takes stock of current knowledge about the effectiveness of the different types of intervention being pursued to resolve this problem.
The first edition of the report was published in 2016, while the second edition was published in 2020.
Seizures document illegal trade in 162 countries and territories during 2015–2021, affecting around 4,000 plant and animal species, approximately 3,250 of which are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Appendices.
As a crude depiction of the scale, these seizures involved 13 million items reported by number and over 16,000 tonnes reported by weight during these seven years.
“This illegal trade flows into a wide range of end use sectors, including food, medicine, live animal and plant keeping, and “luxury” goods,” part of the report says.
Appendix I lists species that are the most endangered animals and plants.
The species under this appendix are threatened with extinction, and CITES prohibits international trade in specimens of these species except when the purpose of the import is not commercial, for instance, for scientific research.
Appendix II lists species that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled.
Appendix III is a list of species included at the request of a party that already regulates trade in the species and that needs the cooperation of other countries to prevent unsustainable or illegal exploitation.
Species may be added to or removed from Appendices I and II, or moved between them, only by the Conference of the Parties at its regular meetings.
According to the report, rhinoceros were the most affected (29%), followed by pangolins (28%), elephants (15%), Eels (5%), crocodilians (5%), parrots and cockatoos (2%), turtles and tortoises (2%), snakes (2%), seahorses (2%), and others (8%).
Among the plants, cedars and other Spindale were affected the most at 47 per cent, rosewood (35%), agar wood and other Myrtales (13%), golden chicken fern and other Cibotium species (1%), orchids (1%) and others (3%).
The National Wildlife Census 2021 showed that Kenya had 36,280 elephants, black rhino (897), white rhino (842), northern rhino (2), lions (2,589), hyenas (5,189), cheetahs (1,160), wild dogs (865), and buffalo (41,659).
The UNODC report warns that wildlife traffickers are adaptable, adjusting their methods and routes in response to regulatory changes and exploiting differences between legal regimes, enforcement gaps, and new market trends.
It says interventions to reduce wildlife trafficking need to be strong, coherent, and harmonised across the trade chain.
This, the report says, requires strong international cooperation and a solid evidence base to guide the design, implementation, and evaluation of remedial action.
The report says corruption is known to enable wildlife crime and undermine the criminal justice response, wildlife crime cases are seldom prosecuted through corruption offences.
“Greater consideration should be given to prosecution of those organising or enabling wildlife trafficking under laws directly addressing corruption, which may provide stronger investigative powers and potential for higher penalties than applicable under environmental legislation.”