In 2019, the illegal wildlife trade reached staggering levels. Pangolin scales and ivory were being trafficked in massive quantities from Africa to Asia, exposing a network of crime syndicates operating at an industrial scale. The sheer volume of these shipments marked a disturbing milestone, one that revealed the global reach …
Illegal ivory is widely available in physical and online retail outlets throughout Viet Nam according to a new TRAFFIC report published with support from USAID. The study, “From Tusk to Trinket: Persistent illegal ivory markets in Viet Nam,” documents surveys carried out at 852 retails outlets in 13 locations and …
The new study, Wildlife trade in Belgium: An analysis of CITES trade and seizure data, examines trade in species listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and builds on earlier studies identifying Belgium as an important destination and transit point of …
Nepal made headway in the fight against poaching and illegal wildlife trade with the achievement of 365 days of zero poaching of rhinos for the first time in 2011. Till 2018, Nepal was successful in celebrating zero poaching year of rhinos on five occasions. At the heart of this conservation …
Over the past 18 years, poachers have stripped South African coastal waters of at least 96 million abalone. Efforts to curb the illegal trade have roundly failed. Once abundant, the population of South African abalone Haliotis midae is declining at unprecedented levels. On average two thousand tonnes of abalone are …
Yahoo Japan is the single biggest online platform for elephant ivory sales in Japan, according to a new TRAFFIC investigation, which recorded a staggering 4,414 ivory items plus 35 whole tusks for sale over a four-week period in June and July 2018. The latest findings were revealed in System Error, …
This is a report of an expert process involving experts nominated by governments, inter-governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations. The outcomes of the process are intended to contribute to the efforts aimed at developing a deeper knowledge and understanding of crimes that have serious impacts on the environment, as well as …
A study released by TRAFFIC suggests that most of Viet Nam’s online illegal wildlife trade does not take place on websites ending in .vn, as previously thought and instead monitoring efforts should focus on those ending .com, including social media websites. The study, titled Viet Nam Online: A rapid assessment …
Asia’s illegal trade in the Black Spotted Turtle is spiralling out of control. A new TRAFFIC study shows over 10,000 individuals have been seized in two years, eclipsing numbers recorded in a previous six-year study. The attractive turtle, once wanted for its meat, is now an increasingly popular pet and …
IFAW’s research report, Disrupt: Wildlife Cybercrime – Uncovering the scale of online wildlife trade, highlights the scale and nature of the online trade in protected live animals and animal products, as well as the threat this trade poses to their survival. The latest in a long line of research, this …
A new TRAFFIC report identifies Uganda as one of the common transit points for the trafficking of wildlife and wildlife products in the Central and East Africa region. Criminal organizations in Uganda are mainly associated with the smuggling of ivory, but in recent years have also been heavily linked to …
More than 1.3-million live animals and plants, 1.5-million skins and two thousand tonnes of meat from CITES-listed species have been exported from 41 African countries to East and Southeast Asia since 2006, a ground-breaking new TRAFFIC report funded by Arcadia and published reveals. Exports included 975 different taxa listed under …
This paper estimates the elasticity of elephant poaching with respect to prices. To identify the supply curve, the authors observe that ivory is a storable commodity and hence subject to Hotelling's no-arbitrage condition. The price of gold, one of many commodities used as stores of value, is thus used as …
A new TRAFFIC report reveals a thriving trade in poached South African abalone Haliotis midae in Hong Kong, where the marine mollusc is considered a delicacy in Cantonese cuisine. Over the last 20 years, the illegal harvest of abalone in South Africa has exceeded the legal quotas, with criminal networks …
A new study summarises the motivations behind the use of endangered wildlife products in Viet Nam, with an ultimate goal of helping behavioural science practitioners develop messages and initiatives to help reduce their consumption. Mapping Motivations–Combatting consumption of illegal wildlife in Viet Nam is a review of consumer research and …
The Africa Asia-Pacific Symposium on Strengthening Legal Frameworks to Combat Wildlife Crime (Symposium) was convened by the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Illicit Trade in Wildlife and Forest Products (Task Force), in partnership with the World Bank-led, Global Environment Facility (GEF)-financed Global Wildlife Program (GWP) and USAID. The event …
Japan remains one of the world’s largest domestic ivory markets, and is home to an active, though shrinking, ivory manufacturing industry. The country also boasts significant stockpiles of raw tusks in private ownership—a cultural legacy from its past trade. Ivory Towers: An Assessment of Japan’s Ivory trade and domestic market, …
The illegal killing and taking of wild birds remains a major threat on a global scale. However, there are few quantitative data on the species affected and countries involved. We quantified the scale and scope of this issue in Northern and Central Europe and the Caucasus, using a diverse range …
Foreign armed groups, including the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the Janjaweed (a Sudanese militia), and other non-State militias, are the main perpetrators of wildlife poaching and trafficking across Central Africa’s Garamba-Bili-Chinko Landscape, a region that straddles the northwest border of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the southwest border of …
India unveiled the third National Wildlife Action Plan for 2017-2031 spelling out the future road map for wildlife conservation. The third action plan comes after the first plan in 1983 and second from 2002 till 2016. The third National Wildlife Action Plan is unique as this is the first time …
The snow leopard is no longer an endangered species, but its population in the wild is still at risk because of poaching and habitat loss, conservationists said this week. The International Union for Conservation of Nature said on Thursday that new data taken through 2016 prompted the reclassification of the …
