As wildlife trafficking has grown to become a more serious and profitable crime type during the past two decades, there is also mounting evidence of the increased involvement of organised crime groups and cases where wildlife crime is committed in conjunction with other forms of serious and organised crime.
Since the creation of the Wildlife Justice Commission in 2015, a constant that has been observed in all intelligence-led investigations into wildlife trafficking across the globe is the role of corruption in enabling this form of organised crime. Corruption is the air that wildlife crime breathes; it is one of the key enablers of widespread and large-scale wildlife trafficking and one of the biggest obstacles to effective law enforcement.
Over the last century, the wild tiger population has decreased to alarmingly low levels. While tigers are adversely affected by climate change, habitat loss and human-wildlife conflict, the illegal tiger trade is said to be the most imminent threat.
Rhino horn trafficking remains a severe problem that needs to be addressed with a new sense of urgency as transnational organised crime. Over the past 10 years, the illegal killing of rhinos and trafficking of their horns has grown as a global criminal enterprise, comprising multiple criminal components dominated by greed and the pursuit of substantial profits.
The Wildlife Justice Commission has published a report on the rise and fall of one of Vietnam’s biggest wildlife traffickers.
In December 2020, the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in China convicted 17 members of a criminal network that was responsible for smuggling at least 20.22 tonnes of elephant ivory from Nigeria to China between 2013 and 2019.
In December 2020, the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in China convicted 17 members of a criminal network that was responsible for smuggling at least 20.22 tonnes of elephant ivory from Nigeria to China between 2013 and 2019.
For millennia, giant clams have provided a source of subsistence meat for coastal communities across the Asia and Pacific regions.
Over the past two decades, wildlife crime has become a form of transnational organised crime, generating billions of dollars annually and affecting almost every country.
Over the past two decades, wildlife crime has be come a form of transnational organised crime, generating billions of dollars annually and affecting almost every country.
The Wildlife Justice Commission conducts intelligence-led investigations, often in an undercover capacity, where operatives pose as potential buyers.
On 29 December 2016, the General Office of the State Council of China issued a notice [No. 103] ordering the closure of the domestic commercial trade and processing of ivory in China by the end of 2017.
