Crushing Wildlife Crime

　　Despite considerable efforts to combat wildlifepoaching， it continues to threaten endangered animalsworldwide. In Africa， poaching is having a devastatingimpact on the continent’s wildlife population. Accordingto the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)，the illegal wildlife trade is worth $19 billion ayear， ranking internationally as the fourthmost lucrative criminal activity， after drugs，counterfeit goods and human trafficking.

　　Aware that poaching in Africa hasreached alarming levels， most notablyin rhino and elephant targeting， China hasmustered timely international action to combatwildlife crime. In January 2014， John E. Scanlon，Secretary General of the Convention on InternationalTrade in Endangered Species of Faunaand Flora (CITES)， led the world in burning 6tons of confiscated illegal ivory and other animalproducts in a show of commitment toward endingthis illicit trade. IFAW estimates illegal ivory is fetchingmore than $2，000 per kg on the black market.The public destruction in Dongguan， China’s GuangdongProvince， of 6.15 tons of ivory stockpilesseized from illegal trade will raise public awarenessand show the Chinese Government’s resolveto remove slaughtering wildlife for their body parts.

　　“We congratulate China for timely intervention.The international community should reciprocateby improving law enforcement， and increasedefforts to reduce demand. These efforts needto be stepped up and strengthened to producedesired results，” said the United Nations EnvironmentProgram (UNEP) Executive DirectorAchim Steiner， who added that the latest CITESdata estimates that some 47，000 animals werekilled in Africa in 2011 and 2012.

　　The IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Groupestimates the African elephant population is around500，000.

　　CITES said preliminary indicators suggest that evenhigher levels of illegal trade may be reached in 2013. Althoughincomplete， the raw data for large-scale ivory seizuresin 2013 (involving at least 500 kg of ivory in a singletransaction) already represented the greatest quantityof ivory confiscated over the last 25 years， for this typeof seizure. Large-scale ivory seizures typically indicatethe participation of organized crime and so far 18 suchseizures have yielded over 41.6 tons of ivory this year.Whether this reflects better law enforcement or a furtherescalation in trade will only be known when a full analysisof the 2013 data is possible， later in 2014. According toCITES， if present killing rates continue， elephant poachingin Africa could lead to the animal’s extinction there.

　　Tom Milliken， TRAFFIC’s ivory trade expert， said， “From2000 through 2013， the number of large-scale ivorymovements has steadily grown in terms of the numberof such shipments and the quantity of ivory illegally traded.2013 already represented a 20-percent increase overthe previous peak year in 2011， we’re hugely concerned.”Last October， the African Elephant Summit in Gaborone，Botswana， advocated stronger global action tohalt illegal trade and secure viable elephant populationsacross Africa.

　　Zhao Shucong， head of the Chinese State ForestryAdministration， stated that China is strengtheningenforcement efforts domestically and collaborating withother countries to stop illegal trade in elephant ivory andother wildlife.

　　To prevent the decline of elephants， China is currentlyimplementing the comprehensive National Ivory ActionPlan. It has identified countries that are primary sources，transit routes and importers of illegal ivory. These includeKenya， Malaysia， the Philippines， Thailand， Uganda， Tanzaniaand Viet Nam. Collaboratively， China is working withthese countries to enhance strong national legislationsand regulations coupled with international enforcement，outreach and public awareness.

　　On an international level， China led the first cross-continentwildlife enforcement effort， known as OperationCobra， to combat illegal wildlife trade as well as providingfunding to the African Elephant Fund.

　　Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Director， William Kiprono，has said there is strong evidence of increased involvementof organized crime syndicates and rebel militia inwildlife crimes. This is channeled through well-developedcriminal networks， which is changing the dynamics ofcombating this highly destructive criminal activity. Oneof the regional initiatives to deal with this is the Nairobibased Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) adopted in1994. This was implemented to fight elephant poachingand other wildlife crimes. This， in turn， established theAfrica Elephant Enforcement Special Account (AELESA)to mobilize resources toward conservation of Africanelephants， to which China is a contributor.