In the past three to five years, there's been an increase in the scale
of illegal wildlife trade, which has become sophisticated and dominated by organized crime.
A number of individual countries have passed laws to fight and
contain illegal wildlife trade, but these efforts can only have a limited success given the global scale of the crimes.
Does the design work to educate the public, inspire people to take action and work to reduce demand for elephant ivory and
other illegal wildlife trade?
I think the Mexican government is quite discouraged by putting a lot of money and effort into enforcement but not enough to stop fishermen illegally setting gill nets at night with continued high prices
for illegal wildlife trade with China.»
A flock of South American Band - tailed Pigeons were rescued
from illegal wildlife trade and brought to the Bronx Zoo, where collaborator David Oehler initiated a research program to gain knowledge for Passenger Pigeon de-extinction by studying the care needs and development of Band - tailed Pigeon offspring.
One of the few remaining hotbeds for endangered biodiversity in Southeast Asia — Myanmar — is slowly but surely being decimated by a resurgence
in illegal wildlife trading.
For the first time the UN General Assembly has taken up the
global illegal wildlife trade as an issue of rule of law, alongside drug trafficking and similar issues.
The Global Snow Leopard and Ecosystem Protection Program (GSLEP) as well as the Snow Leopard Survival Strategy (2014) list
illegal wildlife trade as one of the key threats facing this endangered cat and its prey species in the mountain ecosystems of its range 12 countries.
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is a UK - and Washington DC - based Non-Governmental Organization that investigates and campaigns against a wide range of environmental crimes,
including illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging, hazardous waste and trade in climate - and ozone - altering chemicals.
«Shedd Aquarium applauds the legislation to save animals from extinction and stop the $ 19 billion - a-year global
illegal wildlife trade industry,» said Jim Robinett, senior vice president of external and regulatory affairs at Shedd.
Today, sub-Saharan Africa's tourism industry, supported by dozens of parks and reserves, is valued at $ 25 billion dollars, compared to the $ 20 billion a
year illegal wildlife trade that is increasingly targeting Africa's big cats and wildlife for their precious parts.
As the technology matures, potential applications with implications for conservation include tracking land claims, providing a system for buying and selling power generated by distributed renewable sources, ensuring the validity of sustainability claims for products such as seafood and lumber, and
uncovering illegal wildlife trade.
Dr Jepson's view contrasts with that held by the leading conservation groups who pressed governments worldwide to
make illegal wildlife trade a more serious crime at the 2014 London Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade.
Science can help measure the scope, scale and impact
of illegal wildlife trade, map illicit networks and assess the effect of social marketing and other interventions designed to reduce demand.
While there are mounting efforts to
tackle illegal wildlife trade, including within Singapore to reduce demand for wildlife products, the illegal trade in some species still remains undocumented.
Reductions in biodiversity
from illegal wildlife trade can have other substantial negative human health impacts, including the loss of potential sources of pharmaceuticals, experimental models for studying disease, crop pollination and micronutrients for humans lacking alternative sources of protein.
The United States, Peru, China, Mozambique and United Kingdom have passed new, or bolstered existing, legislation designed to enhance efforts to
combat illegal wildlife trade and reduce risks to security.
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is a US tax exempt environmental organization that investigates and campaigns against a wide range of environmental crimes,
including illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging, hazardous waste, and trade in climate and ozone - altering chemicals.
The illegal wildlife trade also rapidly climbed the U.S. policy agenda, partly motivated by the «Call to Action» issued by then - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Dwarfed only by the trafficking of drugs, humans and counterfeit goods,
the illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be the fourth largest type of transnational organised crime.
The EAL report clearly had a profound effect on the narrative surrounding
the illegal wildlife trade.
In her 2015 review of attitudes towards
the illegal wildlife trade, Felbab - Brown, of the US think - tank Brookings Institution, cautioned against the «over-securitisation» of the problem, resulting in a militarised and inappropriate response to what are instead problems of organised crime and corruption.
«Tackling
the illegal wildlife trade will require a deep understanding of human behavior, of the poachers that engage in the supply side of the trade, and the consumers that drive the demand for wildlife products,» said Diogo Verissimo, David H. Smith Conservation Fellow, Johns Hopkins University.
Globally,
illegal wildlife trade is often framed as a security issue that converges with other serious and often transnational crimes such as drug, gun and human trafficking.
Leading scientists from around the world convened this week at the International Congress for Conservation Biology in Cartagena, Colombia, to discuss how to better leverage science to combat
illegal wildlife trade — both within countries and across international borders.
Following closely behind are a multitude of threats, including human - lion conflict, encroachment of PAs by humans and livestock and in some cases, the emerging threat of direct poaching of lions for
the illegal wildlife trade.
Amidst growing efforts to tackle
the illegal wildlife trade crisis, the NUS researchers call for more attention to protect Southeast Asia's botanical diversity.
Southeast Asia is a widely recognised centre of
illegal wildlife trade — both as the source region for species ranging from seahorses to tigers, and as a global consumer of ivory carvings, wild pets, and traditional Chinese medicinal products.
«This research highlights a common problem in
the illegal wildlife trade — the invisibility of trades that have not been researched and are not recognised in official government databases.»
«They confirm that the scale of
the illegal wildlife trade — including trade in plants — is much greater than we had previously thought, and that wildlife trafficking concerns many more species than the charismatic rhinos and elephants which tend to receive global attention.
The cats have become less picky about hunting livestock — perhaps because warming temperatures have disrupted their usual prey — so people are targeting them, and this feeds into
the illegal wildlife trade.
We must urgently step up international efforts to tackle
the illegal wildlife trade and strengthen the implementation of the CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, if we want to prevent the further decline of these species.»
Tortoises provide a window into
the illegal wildlife trade.
«
Illegal wildlife trade is a major threat to biodiversity worldwide,» says Project leader Associate Professor Phill Cassey.
The illegal wildlife trade is worth an estimated $ 20 billion a year; some of that money ends up funding groups like Boko Haram and their violent ideology.
Lola functions as a halfway house for infant bonobos rescued from
the illegal wildlife trade.
Some of these threats include: habitat loss and degradation; human - wildlife conflict; lack of transboundary cooperation; poaching and
illegal wildlife trade; and climate change.
Poaching and
illegal wildlife trade (IWT), in the recent times have led to local and global extinction of several species such as the tiger in many parts of its range, Sumatran rhino and Pyrenean ibex.
Central Asia's endangered species, including the snow leopard, are under threat from poaching and
illegal wildlife trade.
Illegal wildlife trade is a highly organised, serious crime that TRAFFIC and WWF are working to stop.