Illegal Trade in Wildlife and Plants

According to the UN, demand in the illegal trade for ivory and rhino horns has declined in recent years.

This is indicated by significantly falling prices on smuggling markets, according to the report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on the illegal trade in wildlife and plants. It was presented on Friday, 10 July 2020 in Vienna.

Billion-dollar turnover in ivory and rhino horns

According to experts, the illegal trade in ivory alone still generates around 400 million US dollars in profit annually. Some 230 million US dollars are earned each year from the sawn-off horns of rhinoceroses, which are used as jewellery, art objects, or traditional remedies. In addition, trade in other species is on the rise. The quantity of pangolins discovered by customs investigators increased tenfold — pangolins being highly sought after in Asia as a medicine and delicacy.

The “World Wildlife Crime Report,” the first edition of which was published four years ago, is based on data reported by 149 countries on seizures — supplemented by detailed research into the illegal trade in protected animals and plants. Around 6’000 species have appeared in customs finds since 1999. Suspects came from around 150 countries.

Tropical timber and ivory each accounted for almost one third of the total value of all smuggled natural goods discovered between 2014 and 2018. Around 14 percent of the value was attributable to pangolins, and 12 percent to rhino horns. Rare tortoises, tigers, and eels are also significant black market commodities in the illegal trade.

Pangolin: The World’s Most Trafficked Mammal

A sad record for the pangolin: it is probably the most smuggled mammal in the world. Its meat and scales are highly sought after by people — but illegal. As ivory prices have fallen, professional smugglers have also turned to these animals, which are particularly prized as a remedy in Asia — from 2014 to 2018, the quantity of horn scales seized annually by customs investigators worldwide increased tenfold. This emerges from the report on illegal trade in wildlife and plants by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which was presented in Vienna on Friday.

«Crime involving wild species triggers a vicious cycle that puts our health, safety and development at risk,» said UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly at the presentation of the report. «Cross-border organized crime networks pocket the profits from crimes involving wild species, but the poor pay the price.» More on wildlife crime and its impacts on wildbeimwild.com.

With an eye also on the COVID-19 pandemic, experts warn that the exploitation of nature threatens not only the climate and biodiversity, but also human health. Almost three quarters of all new infectious diseases in recent decades have jumped from animals to humans — including, according to current knowledge, the coronavirus.