Photo Credits: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-R4qIoNwh1WQ/URh3fEke-XI/AAAAAAAAACA/0tqz22vBrEM/s1600/asean3.png
Photo Credits: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0051156#pone-0051156-g001
1. Southeast Asia is currently identified as one of the “wildlife trade hotspots” in the world, along with other regions such as East Africa and the Mexican Borders. As reflected in the map shown above, there is a high concentration of illegal wildlife trade occurring in this region. This further highlights the severity of the problem and how there is an urgent need for intervention.
2. Illegal wildlife trade stands as the forth most profitable illegal trade behind drugs, guns and human trafficking.
Photo Credits: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/shocking-facts-about-how-the-illegal-wildlife-trade-drives-species-extinction/
It is estimated to be worth around 19 billion USD annually. In terms of revenue produced for criminal gangs and the threat to global security, illegal wildlife trade is said to be on par with drug trafficking and arms trade.
3. The most traded mammal worldwide (and in Southeast Asia) is the Asian Pangolin.
Photo Credits: http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2014/04/opinion/sutter-change-the-list-pangolin-trafficking/
Photo Credits: http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2009/07/13/asian_pangolins_being_wiped_out/
Ironically, it is also a species we do not know much of as compared to its other counterparts – charismatic megafauna such as Rhinos, Tigers, Orangutans and Elephants. Their scales can be used to make shoes, their blood is said to contain healing elements prized in Traditional Chinese Medicine and it is a high end delicacy in both China and Vietnam. The second most hunted species is the African Elephant – usually hunted for their ivory.
5. Illegal wildlife crime is actually a dynamic crime with different groups of people involved and fuelled by a supply and demand chain. The picture below gives us an overview of how it works.
Photo Credits: http://www.wwf.org.au/our_work/wwf_global_work/wwf_global_flagship_species/rhinoceros/
Firstly, there are individuals in the supply chain – which are mainly the poachers and the middleman.
The poachers are usually the ones who who captures the animal. In this case, they will be the ones that shoot the rhino and obtain its horn.They might be locals or actual members of criminal syndicates. More often than not, the locals do it out of destitution while the latter do it out of greed.
The supply chain can also involve middleman, which are individuals working between the poachers and the traders.
The demand chain then consist of traders and eventual buyers. Traders are the ones who purchase the animal/relevant product from middleman, engage smugglers to bring the goods in and they then sell it to buyers. Buyers are individuals who eventually pay the highest price for the product and generate the main demand of wildlife product.
6. The largest consumer market of illegal wildlife remains to be China
Photo Credits: http://annamiticus.com/2015/08/11/will-chinas-falling-yuan-impact-illegal-wildlife-trade/
There is a saying that Chinese “can eat everything and will eat everything.” Claimed to be the next uprising economic giant, the increased affluence in China and its reliance on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) leaves us with barely any surprise that the demand in China for wildlife products remain insatiable. However, the trends of consumption have been spreading in Asia – Japan and South Korea have also shown increase in the consumption of wildlife products over the years.
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