TAG: GS 3: ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENT
THE CONTEXT: Recently the 2024 World Wildlife Crime Report has been released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), highlights the persistent issue of illegal wildlife trade despite two decades of concerted international and national efforts.
EXPLANATION:
- The report identifies the rhino and the cedar as the most affected animal and plant species, respectively, during the period from 2015 to 2021.
Highlights of the report:
- The 2024 report, the third edition following those in 2016 and 2020, provides a comprehensive analysis of wildlife trafficking trends, harms, and impacts, along with the effectiveness of interventions.
- Despite progress in countering the trafficking of iconic species like elephants and rhinos, wildlife traffickers remain highly adaptable, employing various methods to evade detection.
- The report emphasizes the need for strong coherence and harmonization across the trade chain, along with robust international cooperation.
- Increased investment in building data and analytical capacity at both national and international levels is crucial to closing knowledge gaps.
- Corruption undermines regulation and enforcement efforts, while technology enhances traffickers’ capabilities to reach global markets.
- Modernizing, strengthening, and harmonizing criminal justice responses from source to end markets are essential.
- Given the vast number of wildlife species affected and the diverse range of markets driving multiple environmental and societal harms, interventions need to be more strategic and prioritized.
- The report highlights the interconnectedness of wildlife crime with large and powerful organized crime groups operating in fragile ecosystems. Addressing wildlife trafficking effectively requires a broader strategy to combat organized crime as a whole.
Key Markets in Illegal Wildlife Trade
- The report identifies 15 broad markets that constitute the bulk of the observed illegal wildlife trade based on a standardized seizure index.
- These markets reveal the critical species targeted by traffickers.
- Animal Species
- Rhino Horn: Represents 29% of the illegal wildlife trade, making it the largest market among animal species.
- Pangolin Scales: Comprise 28% of the market.
- Elephant Ivory: Accounts for 15% of the trade.
- Other notable species include eels (5%), crocodilians (5%), parrots and cockatoos (2%), carnivores (2%), turtles and tortoises (2%), snakes (2%), seahorses (2%), and others (8%).
- Plant Species
- Cedars and Other Sapindales: Constitute 47% of the illegal plant trade market.
- Rosewoods: Make up 35% of the market.
- Agarwood and Other Myrtales: Account for 13% of the trade.
- Golden Chicken Fern and Orchids: Each represent 1% of the market.
- Other species make up the remaining 3%.
- Diversity in Seizures
- The report underscores the diversity of seizures in illegal wildlife trade products during 2015-2021, indicating a wide range of biodiversity affected by trafficking.
- Seizure Breakdown
- Corals: 16% of all seizures.
- Crocodilians: 9%.
- Elephants: 6%.
- Bivalve Molluscs: 6%.
- Carnivores: 5%.
- Parrots and Cockatoos: 4%.
- Orchids: 4%.
- Turtles and Tortoises: 4%.
- Snakes: 4%.
- Rosewood: 4%.
- Ginsengs and Costus Root: 3% each.
- Aloes and Other Liliales: 3%.
- Cacti: 3%.
- Even-Toed Ungulates: 2%.
- Sturgeons and Paddlefishes: 2%.
- Pangolins: 2%.
- Sea Snails: 2%.
- Lizards: 2%.
- Birds of Prey: 1%.
- Other Species: 16%.
Commodities and Methods
- The report also details the types of commodities most frequently seized and the methods used by traffickers.
- Commodities
- Coral Pieces: 16% of all seizures during 2015-2016.
- Live Specimens: 15%.
- Medicines Made of Animal Products: 10%.
- Animal Meat, Shells, and Small Leather Products: Each constitute 6%.
- Other commodities include animal bodies (4%), plant roots (3%), extracts (3%), ivory carvings (3%), and others (28%).
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC):
- The United Nations Office (UNO) on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is a United Nations office that was established in 1997 as the Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention by combining the United Nations International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) and the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Division in the United Nations Office at Vienna, adopting the current name in 2002.
- It relies on voluntary contributions, mainly from governments, to carry out the majority of our work.
- Its headquarters is in Vienna, Austria
Functions of UNODC:
- It works to educate people throughout the world about the dangers of drug abuse.
- Strengthen international action against illicit drug production and trafficking and drug-related crime.
- It also works to improve crime prevention and assist with criminal justice reform in order to strengthen the rule of law, promote stable and viable criminal justice systems and combat the growing threats of transnational organized crime and corruption.
- In 2002, the UN General Assembly approved an expanded programme of activities for the Terrorism Prevention Branch of UNODC. The activities focus on providing assistance to States, on request, in ratifying and implementing the eighteen universal legal instruments against terrorism.
