What Sustains Wildlife Crime? Rhino Horn Trading and the Resilience of Criminal Networks

By Julie Ayling

The problem of illegal trading in wildlife is a long-standing one. Humans have always regarded other sentient and non-sentient species as resources and tradeable commodities, frequently resulting in negative effects for biodiversity. However, the illegal trade in wildlife is increasingly meeting with resistance from states and the international community in the form of law enforcement and regulatory initiatives. So why does it persist? What makes the criminal networks involved in it resilient? In this paper we consider the networks involved in the illegal trade in rhinoceros horn that is currently posing an existential threat to most rhino species. The paper considers possible sources of these networks’ resilience, both internal and external, and the implications for how the trade could be tackled.

Canberra: Transnational Environmental Crime Project, Department of International Relations, Australian National University, 2012. 22p.