The Illegal Wildlife Trade: It is a jungle out there....

The Illegal Wildlife Trade and Financial Crime

Wildlife trafficking has become a major concern with wildlife dwindling down to scarce numbers and mass extinctions a scary reality for thousands of animal species. Wildlife trafficking is not just a huge concern for the conservation of wildlife species but a global security threat for its involvement in financial crime. Wildlife trafficking is an organised form of crime globally, it is estimated to be worth upwards of $20 Billion annually, with ties to other financial crimes like money laundering, bribery, and corruption. According to Interpol, illegal wildlife traffickers often are involved in several other crimes like illicit arms dealing, fraud, and falsification of legal documents.

Illegal wildlife trading is an attractive form of making money for criminal financing, with prices reaching upwards of $65000 per Kilo for a Rhino Horn. As well as this criminals have trafficked a total of 4500 African Rhino horns between 2016 and 2017, the proceeds from this form of trafficking have generated a total of $292 Millon in proceeds. It was also reported that in 2007 only 13 Rhinos were killed illegally a year, however, this rose to 1300 a year in 2014. The increased poaching of such species is now endangering the species' survival.

Illegal wildlife trading involves poaching, a process where hunters illegally kill animals for the benefit of illegal wildlife trading. Poaching has dire consequences on biodiversity for example poaching caused; the western black rhino to be declared extinct in 2011 and the world's tiger population has decreased from over 100,000 a century ago to below 3500. Illegal wildlife trading is not just about animals but also involves plants, for example, illegal logging, which has caused climate change and also can cause food sources to become scarce.

The Proceeds of Illegal Wildlife Trading

For illegal wildlife trade, money is typically transferred among source, transit, and destination nations. Larger revenue percentages are also distributed to various stages in the supply chain, even though the majority of revenues typically go to the nation where a criminal group's leaders reside. To pay for continued expenditures of criminal activity, criminals have often invested profits back into their own countries. Examples include paying for the expense of shipping loads or purchasing vehicles.

Similar to other significant proceed-producing crimes, multinational organisations engaged in wildlife crime are frequently made up of various separate sub-networks or actors that each offer specialised illegal services. The leadership of the criminal organisation may be more or less centralised, depending on its size and geographic focus. This is one reason why following the financial flows is an important means of identifying links between individuals and the broader network.

The Structures of an Illegal Wildlife Trade Syndicate

Although each criminal business will have its own unique traits, in large-scale networks of wildlife trafficking, the syndicate executives are frequently not directly involved in the procurement of the species. Instead, they rely on local controllers headquartered in the source nations who supervise the procurement of wildlife illegally from various local poachers, breeders, or farms.

Syndicates frequently pick local controllers with specialised local expertise or language abilities so they can conceal their financial activities under the guise of genuine company operations in the nation. Criminals utilise cash and, to a lesser extent, mobile money to compensate local poachers or breeders. Syndicate leaders may also pay for members' other costs, such as rental cars and accommodation.

The Transportation

Criminals frequently rely on a network of complicit officials, such as customs, immigration, or port personnel, across the source, transit, and destination countries to transport wildlife and wildlife contraband without being discovered. They also frequently use local middlemen, like packers or transporters, to help prepare and move the wildlife. Criminals engaged in the illegal trade in wildlife frequently divert containers or cargo through third countries and switch the bills of lading or vessel to conceal the true location of origin.

Additionally, criminals that are involved in the illegal wildlife trade frequently employ cash, smartphone, or social media payments, and third-party payments to purchase illicit wildlife.

Finally, FTAF has highlighted in a study that it should not just be the jurisdictions which the wildlife is harvested, transited and sold in, but viewed rather as a global threat. Illegal wildlife trade undermines the legal wildlife trade, which then deprives governments with legitimate sources of income and trade as well as enhancing the proceeds of crime for organised criminals. This practice does not just have a negative impact on the economy but also on the global environment and biodiversity.

For more information about the illegal wildlife trade and what you can do to help, please visit: https://unitedforwildlife.org/#:~:text=United%20for%20Wildlife%20was%20created,profit%20from%20illegal%20wildlife%20products.