The Escalating International Wildlife Trafficking Crisis

Over the last decade, wildlife trafficking has grown into an international crisis. It is a multibillion-dollar industry driven by dangerous and sophisticated transnational criminal syndicates used by some terrorist groups to fund their operations. These poachers and traffickers are organized, well-financed, heavily armed, and extremely dangerous. The scale at which poachers are operating is threatening the very survival of some of the world's most iconic wildlife. Last year alone, roughly 35,000 elephants and 1,000 rhinos were killed in Africa. The loss of these wildlife populations, coupled with the security and stability threats of poachers and traffickers, is having a serious impact on the economic development of many African communities that rely on tourism for revenue, as well.

The report presents the latest assessment of global trends in wildlife crime. It includes discussions on illicit rosewood, ivory, rhino horn, pangolin scales, live reptiles, tigers and other big cats, and European eel. The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has highlighted that wildlife crime is a threat not only to the environment and biodiversity, but also to human health, economic development and security. Zoonotic diseases - those caused by pathogens that spread from animals to humans - represent up to 75% of all emerging infectious diseases. Trafficked wild species and the resulting products offered for human consumption, by definition, escape any hygiene or sanitary control, and therefore pose even greater risks of infection.

Continuing the AIDP’s tradition in examining how to improve the protection of the environment through criminal law, this volume addresses various challenges and scientific concerns in relation to environmental crime. It touches upon a range of topics, from biodiversity to corporate criminal liability to jurisdictional or prosecutorial problems, and explores multiple national and regional enforcement systems, drawing from best practices. It brings together key proceedings of the Second AIDP World Conference on the Protection of the Environment through Criminal Law (Bucharest, May 18-20, 2016) organised by the International Association of Penal Law (AIDP) in collaboration with the Romanian Association of Penal Sciences, the Legal Research Institute of the Romanian Academy of Sciences and the Ecological University of Bucharest.

In this book the author examines the illegal wildlife trade from multiple perspectives: the historical context, the impact on the environment, the scope of the problem internationally, the sociocultural demand for illegal products, the legal efforts to combat it, and several case studies from inside the trade. The illegal wildlife trade has become a global criminal enterprise, following in the footsteps of drugs and weapons. Beyond the environmental impact, financial profits from the illegal wildlife trade often fund organized crime groups and violent gangs that threaten public safety and security in myriad ways. This innovative volume covers several key questions surrounding the wildlife trade: why is there a demand for illegal wildlife products, which actors are involved in the trade, how is the business organized, and what are the harmful consequences. The author performed ethnographic fieldwork in three key markets: Russia, Morocco, and China, and has constructed a detailed picture of how the wildlife trade operates in these areas. Conversations with informants directly involved in the illegal business ensure unique insights into this lively black market. In the course of his journey the author follows the route of the illegal wildlife trade from poor poaching areas to rich business districts where corrupt officials, legally registered companies, wildlife farms and sophisticated criminal organizations all have a share. A fascinating look inside the world of poachers, smugglers and traders.

This edited volume brings together the most recent research about various aspects of organized crime and the responses that have developed worldwide as a result to contain serious criminal acts. This book focuses particularly on the way criminal networking and illegal markets have developed during the first two decades of the 21st century. It examines how these developments have influenced the motivations and opportunities to commit organized crime. The volume not only focuses on illegal activities in illegal markets, such as drug and human trafficking, but also addresses organized crime and deviance in various legitimate industries. The contributions were presented at seminars of the Centre for Information and Research on Organized Crime (CIROC), and will be of particular interest to organized crime scholars and researchers, as well as advanced students of criminology across the world.