Wildlife smuggling in southern Africa

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Map of Southern Africa Map-Africa-Southern Africa-Regions.png
Map of Southern Africa

The wildlife trafficking network in southern Africa involves the illicit extraction, transportation and transaction of wildlife within and across the nations of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. Involvement in the illegal trading network can be divided into three general roles: poachers, traffickers and intermediaries, and consumers. There are a wide range of motives depending on an individual's role in the network. Some motivations include profit, sustenance, and reducing human-wildlife conflict.

Contents

Wildlife commodities

Animals subject to wildlife trafficking include any animal that is not explicitly sanctioned by the government to wound, kill, or export. In the southern region of Africa, some species that are common in the illegal trading network are exotic birds, large African cats, rhinoceros, and elephants.

Threatened exotic bird species are the most exported wildlife from the southern region of Africa. [1] Top importer of exotic birds is South Africa, though there are also buyers in the United States and Europe. [1] The African Gray Parrot ( Psittacus erithacus ) is the most poached parrot of South Africa. [2]

Large African cats that are poached include lions, cheetahs, and leopards. Body parts of African cats, particularly lions, are traded both pan-nationally and transnationally for zootherapeutic practices. [3] Eighty percent of the African Lion ( Panthera leo ) population is concentrated in east and southern Africa. [4] Trade of lion skin, teeth, and claws occurs most frequently within the continent. [3] While domestic trade of lion parts is much more common, there is also a significant amount of lion bone trade across East-Southeast Asia. [3]

White Rhinoceros in Southern Africa Photograph of two White Rhinoceros.jpg
White Rhinoceros in Southern Africa

Elephants and rhinoceros are poached for ivory and rhinoceros horn. The trends of rhinoceros and elephant poaching are largely dependent on global demand. Rhinoceros horns are used for decorative purposes and some Asian medicines. [5] In South Africa, rhino poaching commonly happens on privately owned land, which is difficult for officials to prevent. Another common place to poach is Kruger National Park. [6] The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) is the elephant species that inhabits southern Africa. While elephant populations in Eastern and Central Africa are steadily decreasing, elephant population sizes in southern Africa are stable. [7] The current elephant population in southern Africa is 293, 447. [8] However, poaching continues to threaten the status of elephant populations, specifically in Kruger National Park, where the PIKE (Proportion of Illegally Killed Elephants) value has increased 23% from 2014 to 2015. [7]

Poachers

Poachers function as the suppliers to the wildlife market. Illegal poaching occurs locally and on larger, commercial scales. There are various motivations for poaching, some of which include an aim to reduce human-wildlife conflict, trophy hunting, and consumer demand.

Small-scale poaching may occur to protect domestic animals and crops. Farmers poach predatory animals, such as lions, cheetahs and leopards. [5] Another driver of poaching for locals is inadequate sources of income. Poaching presents a lucrative alternative for people in need. In rural areas in Namibia, a single poached animal can sell for one-hundred USD. [9] Also, one rhinoceros horn can sell for six-hundred USD. [10]

Large-scale poaching is more complex and may include more organized groups. Criminal groups consist of advanced communication systems, automobiles and weapons that facilitate large quantities of killings with minimal detection. [11] Commercial poachers pay individuals who have limited sources for income. The complexity and distance between intermediaries and poachers makes it difficult to identify the source. [5]

Traffickers and intermediaries

Traffickers facilitate the transport of products from the poachers to the consumers. Intermediaries include politicians that are hired to help transport illegal goods across borders. [12] Other intermediaries are people who are unaware of their involvement. [12] Local traders can act as the “middle-man” between poachers and urban exporters. [6]

Wildlife traffickers tend to travel through areas where enforcement is more lenient. Crime syndicates move wildlife commodities through an organized network of people. Transporters hide living and dead wildlife commodities in luggage. [13] Corrupt government officials also play a significant role in the transport of wildlife commodities. The seizures of wildlife poaching is largely undocumented in some areas, such as Tanzania, which suggests there are state workers forging paperwork for unlawful commodities [14]

Consumers

African consumers

Consumers at the end of the market change can be local or international. African consumers purchase illegal wildlife commodities for pets, medicinal uses, and belief uses. In Namibia and South Africa, the trade of exotic birds and reptiles are popular among consumers as pets. [5] Exotic birds are popular pets because they require minimal maintenance and are low-cost. Local collectors display exotic pets to reel in tourists and accrue revenue. [5]

Belief uses of illegal wildlife commodities vary by region. For example, leopard paws are sold in South Africa to fight against bad luck. [5] Pangolins are prevalent in Central, East, and Southern Africa, and have a variety of uses that are specific to different areas. [15] African Vulture trade also occurs throughout the southern region of Africa, as vulture bushmeat has medicinal and belief uses.

Global consumers

According to the CITES database, most international wildlife exports from Africa go to Europe, Japan and the United States. [1] The buyer are pet shops, private collectors, animal brokers, game farms, biomedical labs, circuses, exotic meat dealers. [16] International consumers purchase illegal wildlife products for medicinal uses, pets, or status symbols.

Responses

There is a wide range of government enforcement and regulation to combat illegal wildlife trafficking. In South Africa and Namibia regulation is a prominent force to defend against illegal trade. The penalties for unauthorized poaching can result in prison sentences of fines. [17] Also, the Trade in Wildlife Information Exchange (TWIX) was implemented for the Southern Africa Development Community (SADF) in 2019 to enforce wildlife trade regulation and increase communication about illicit trade of wildlife in the southern region of Africa.

Organizations such as CITES and TRAFFIC work to track the illegal trafficking of wildlife commodities, identify the animals that are most at risk, and promote the conservation of wildlife. There are also initiatives to increase local community participation in wildlife conservation. The Integrated Rural Resource Development Project in Zambia ( IRRDP) puts local people in charge of protecting wildlife. [5]

General references

Related Research Articles

Poaching Illegal hunting of wildlife

Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the hunting privileges of nobility and territorial rulers.

Black rhinoceros Species of mammal

The black rhinoceros, black rhino or hook-lipped rhinoceros is a species of rhinoceros, native to eastern and southern Africa including Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Although the rhinoceros is referred to as black, its colours vary from brown to grey.

Rhinoceros Family of mammals

A rhinoceros, commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of the extant species are native to Africa, and three to South and Southeast Asia.

White rhinoceros Species of mammal

The white rhinoceros, white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The white rhinoceros consists of two subspecies: the southern white rhinoceros, with an estimated 19,682–21,077 wild-living animals in the year 2015, and the much rarer northern white rhinoceros. The northern subspecies has very few remaining individuals, with only two confirmed left in 2018, both in captivity. Sudan, the world's last known male northern white rhinoceros, died in Kenya on 19 March 2018.

WildAid is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, United States.

Garamba National Park National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Garamba National Park is a nearly 2,000-square-mile (5,200 km2) national park in north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is among Africa's oldest parks, and was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980 for its protection of critical habitat for northern white rhinoceroses, elephants, hippopotamuses, and giraffes. Garamba has been managed by African Parks in partnership with the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), since 2005.

Liwonde National Park, also known as Liwonde Wildlife Reserve, is a national park in southern Malawi, near the Mozambique border. The park was established in 1973, and has been managed by the nonprofit conservation organization African Parks since August 2015. African Parks built an electric fence around the perimeter of the park to help mitigate human-wildlife conflict. In early 2018, the adjacent Mangochi Forest Reserve was also brought under African Parks' management, almost doubling the size of the protected area.

Environmental issues in Kenya

Environmental issues in Kenya include deforestation, soil erosion, desertification, water shortage and degraded water quality, flooding, poaching, and domestic and industrial pollution.

Wildlife trade

Wildlife trade refers to the commerce of products that are derived from non-domesticated animals or plants usually extracted from their natural environment or raised under controlled conditions. It can involve the trade of living or dead individuals, tissues such as skins, bones or meat, or other products. Legal wildlife trade is regulated by the United Nations' Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which currently has 183 member countries called Parties. Illegal wildlife trade is widespread and constitutes one of the major illegal economic activities, comparable to the traffic of drugs and weapons.

Wildlife smuggling

Wildlife smuggling or trafficking involves the illegal gathering, transportation, and distribution of animals and their derivatives. This can be done either internationally or domestically. Estimates of the money generated by wildlife smuggling vary, in part because of its illegal nature. "Wildlife smuggling is estimated at $7.8bn to $10bn a year, according to the U.S. State Department. The U.S. State Department also lists wildlife trafficking as the third most valuable illicit commerce in the world." The illegal nature of such activities makes determining the amount of money involved incredibly difficult. When considered with illegal timber and fisheries, wildlife trafficking is a major illegal trade along with narcotics, human trafficking, and counterfeit products.

Esmond Bradley Martin was an American conservationist who fought for both the preservation of elephants against the illegal ivory trade, and for the rhinoceros against the illegal trade of rhinoceros horns. A trained geographer, Martin was considered a world-renowned expert in the ivory trade and rhinoceros horn trade. He had been a special envoy of the United Nations for the conservation of rhinoceros. Militant for a reduction in the demand for ivory to dry up the market, he participated notably in the stop of rhinoceros horn trade to China in 1993 and ivory in 2017.

Ivory trade Commercial, often illegal, trade of animal ivory

The ivory trade is the commercial, often illegal trade in the ivory tusks of the hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, mammoth, and most commonly, African and Asian elephants.

Destruction of ivory Technique used to deter the poaching of elephants

The destruction of ivory is a technique used by governments and conservation groups to deter the poaching of elephants for their tusks and to suppress the illegal ivory trade. As of 2016, more than 263 tonnes (580,000 lb) of ivory has been destroyed, typically by burning or crushing, in these high-profile events in 21 countries around the world. Kenya held the first event in 1989, as well as the largest event in 2016, when a total of 105 tonnes (231,000 lb) of ivory were incinerated.

Species affected by poaching

Many species are affected by poaching, including illegal hunting, fishing and capturing of wild animals, and, in a recent usage, the illegal harvesting of wild plant species. The article provides an overview of species currently endangered or impaired by poaching in the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa, and South-East Asia.

Wayne Lotter was a South African wildlife conservationist. Lotter was one of the co-founders of the PAMS Foundation, a not for profit conservation organisation based in Tanzania. Lotter also previously served as Vice President of the International Ranger Federation.

Wildlife Angel is a wildlife protection non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Strasbourg (France). Its three main objectives are to protect wildlife, to protect rangers and to fight poaching by intervening in national parks, private reserves and workkng with other non-governmental organizations (NGO). Wildlife Angel intervenes directly in the field with rangers in charge of animal protection.

African vulture trade

The African vulture trade involves the poaching, trafficking, and illegal sale of vultures and vulture parts for bushmeat and for ritual and religious use, like traditional medicines, in Sub-Saharan Africa. This illegal trade of vultures and vulture parts is contributing to a population crisis on the continent. In 2017, the IUCN Red List categorized 7 of Africa's 11 vulture species as globally endangered or critically endangered. Recent research suggests that 90% of vulture species declines in Africa may be due to a combination of poisoning and illegal wildlife trade for medicinal use and/or bushmeat. All trade of African vultures is illegal, as these birds are protected by international laws.

Steven R. Galster is an American environmental and human rights investigator and counter-trafficking program designer. Since 1987, he has planned and participated in investigations and remedial programs to stop wildlife and human trafficking and to mitigate corruption and build governance in Asia, Africa, Russia, South America, and the USA.

Rhinoceros poaching in Southern Africa

Rhinoceros poaching in southern Africa is the illegal act of slaughtering rhinoceros in the southern African countries of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, where most of Africa's rhinos occur. The most common reason for rhino poaching is to meet the high demand for their horns in Asian countries, where the horn is predominantly used in Traditional Chinese Medicine but is increasingly being used as a symbol of wealth and prosperity. In previous generations, the most common rhino poaching activity was hunting for recreational purposes. Because of excessive poaching, rhino populations have decline rapidly since the 1970s, leaving some species critically endangered and facing extinction.

Hemmersbach Rhino Force is a direct action conservation organization acting with a focus on the African rhinos. Rhino Force's main activities consist of anti-poaching rangers in the Greater Kruger National Park, a biobank called Hemmersbach Rhino Force Cryovault to preserve rhino genes and the Black Rhino Reintroduction to bring back rhinos to the Mid Zambezi Valley in Zimbabwe.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "South Africa's Trade Policy and Southern and Eastern Africa". Commonwealth Trade Hot Topics. 2003-10-01. doi: 10.14217/5k3w8fb9psd3-en . ISSN   2071-9914.
  2. ↑ Hinsley, Amy; King, Emily; Sinovas, Pablo (2016), "Tackling Illegal Wildlife Trade by Improving Traceability: A Case Study of the Potential for Stable Isotope Analysis", The Geography of Environmental Crime, Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp. 91–119, doi:10.1057/978-1-137-53843-7_5, ISBN   9781137538420
  3. 1 2 3 Macdonald, David W.; Newton, David J.; Loveridge, Andrew J.; Williams, Vivienne L. (2017-10-26). "Questionnaire survey of the pan-African trade in lion body parts". PLOS ONE. 12 (10): e0187060. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1287060W. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187060 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   5658145 . PMID   29073202.
  4. ↑ "African Lions". WWF. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Warchol, Greg L.; Zupan, Linda L.; Clack, Willie (May 2003). "Transnational Criminality: An Analysis of the Illegal Wildlife Market in Southern Africa". International Criminal Justice Review. 13 (1): 1–27. doi:10.1177/105756770301300101. ISSN   1057-5677. S2CID   145664366.
  6. 1 2 Harrison, Joseph R.; Roberts, David L.; Hernandez-Castro, Julio (2016-04-28). "Assessing the extent and nature of wildlife trade on the dark web". Conservation Biology. 30 (4): 900–904. doi:10.1111/cobi.12707. ISSN   0888-8892. PMID   26918590. S2CID   3774575.
  7. 1 2 "CITES: African elephant poaching down, ivory seizures up and hit record high | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  8. ↑ "STATUS OF ELEPHANT POPULATIONS, LEVELS OF ILLEGAL KILLING AND THE TRADE IN IVORY: A REPORT TO THE CITES STANDING COMMITTEE" (PDF). CITES Report: 3. 2017 – via CITES.
  9. ↑ Bayraktar, Nihal (2017), "Changing International Trade Linkages in Sub-Saharan Africa: BRIC versus OECD Countries", Foreign Capital Flows and Economic Development in Africa, Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 299–321, doi:10.1057/978-1-137-53496-5_14, ISBN   9781137534958
  10. ↑ Anderson, Bradley. Wildlife poaching : Africa's surging trafficking threat. OCLC   882561045.
  11. ↑ "Poaching animals, explained". Animals. 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  12. 1 2 Phelps, Jacob; Biggs, Duan; Webb, Edward L (2016-09-21). "Tools and terms for understanding illegal wildlife trade" (PDF). Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 14 (9): 479–489. doi:10.1002/fee.1325. ISSN   1540-9295.
  13. ↑ "Detect Transit Routes". Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  14. ↑ Tafirenyika, Masimba (2019-12-31), "2.6 Commerce, Crime, and Corruption: Illicit Financial Flows from Africa", Global Africa, University of California Press, pp. 130–140, doi:10.1525/9780520962514-016, ISBN   9780520962514, S2CID   198723366
  15. ↑ "The world's most trafficked mammal is being slaughtered for its scales". African Wildlife Foundation. 2013-02-25. Retrieved 2019-05-09.
  16. ↑ Warchol, Greg; Harrington, Michael (2016-01-28). "Exploring the dynamics of South Africa's illegal abalone trade via routine activities theory". Trends in Organized Crime. 19 (1): 21–41. doi:10.1007/s12117-016-9265-4. ISSN   1084-4791. S2CID   147529164.
  17. ↑ "Offences Linked To Terrorist Offences", Fighting Terrorism through Multilevel Criminal Legislation, Brill, 2009, pp. 241–254, doi:10.1163/ej.9789004177574.i-488.55, ISBN   9789004177574
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