By Angus Nurse

This research considers the enforcement of wildlife legislation in the UK. It examines the extent of wildlife crime, the role of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in helping to shape the public policy and police response to wildlife crime and the current position of UK wildlife legislation. A variety of animal and wildlife protection legislation is on the statute books but crimes such as egg collecting, bird of prey persecution, the illegal trade in wildlife and the illegal killing and trapping of animals such as badgers for sport continue. NGOs through their campaign and policy documents argue that the enforcement regime should be strengthened and tougher sentences handed out to wildlife offenders. The research assesses these policy perspectives and the rationale behind them to determine how effective existing policies on wildlife crime are, given what is known about crime, punishment and justice in mainstream criminology. The research questions are addressed through document research and semi-structured interviews. Use is made of published figures and policy perspectives on wildlife crime as well as previous research on wildlife and environmental law enforcement. However, previous research considers either problems affecting individual species (e.g. badgers, or birds) or specific types of offence such as the illegal trade in wildlife or bird of prey persecution. This research considers UK wildlife in its entirety across all different types of offence. The research concludes that while the perception might be that wildlife laws are inadequate and a more punitive regime is required, it is in the enforcement of the legislation that problems occur rather than in any inherent weakness in the legislative regime. The research concludes that changes to legislation and a more punitive regime are unlikely to have a substantial effect on wildlife crime levels unless attention is also paid problems with the existing enforcement regime. The research makes recommendations for future criminal justice policy on wildlife crime.

Birmingham, UK: Birmingham City University, 2008. 296p.

By Kimon de Greef amd Simone Haysom

Abalone, a variety of marine snail, is valued as a high-status delicacy in East Asia, primarily in China. For more than 30 years, a species of abalone found only in South African waters – Haliotis midae, known locally as perlemoen – has been subjected to massive levels of poaching, driving the evolution of a lucrative and violent criminal economy. This report maps out the profound harms associated with this trade, ranging from resource collapse to corruption, turf wars and the erosion of state institutions. Despite decades of anti-poaching efforts, illegal harvesting is currently at its highest-ever levels, with record prices for abalone, myriad groups competing for profits — from Cape gangsters to Somali smugglers — and few realistic prospects for bringing the trade under control. Faced with these facts, a radical shift to the current state response is needed. Although reports exist of poaching in other countries such as Australia and the US, South Africa has been the global hotspot for abalone poaching since the 1990s. Abalone is harvested by divers, dried in South Africa and smuggled over the border to other southern African states, where it is laundered into licit trade routes and is shipped, primarily, to Hong Kong (the hub of the global abalone trade), from where it enters East Asian consumer markets.

Geneva: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, 2022. 62p.

By John M. Sellar

The “tipping point” on wildlife crime is fast approaching: the extinction of key species and irreparable damage to the environment are both imminent possibilities in the near future. Growing demand for wildlife products in key markets has triggered a professionalization and aggression in poaching which is unparalleled. Armed with advanced weaponry, surveillance equipment and facilitated by extensive corruption, the criminal market in wildlife crime is now one of the most significant illicit markets in the world. Key species such as the rhino are being slaughtered at record levels. Lesser known animals are traded at a scale that is almost incomprehensible. This is no longer just a criminal act: it is warfare. The law enforcement community, at national and international levels, has long been engaged in what are described as ‘wars’ against narcotic and firearm trafficking. These two forms of criminality share many of the same features as those of wildlife trafficking, particularly as all three involve: the harvesting or acquisition of material or products in one State; usually require illicit export from the same State; the subsequent clandestine movement of the material or products across further national borders (regularly many borders and also intercontinentally); illicit import to the State of destination; and final delivery to customers and consumers.

Geneva: Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, 2014. 46p.

By Goncalves, Marilyne Pereira; Panjer, Melissa; Greenberg, Theodore S.; Magrath, William B

Every two seconds, across the world, an area of forest the size of a football field is clear-cut by illegal loggers. In some countries, up to 90 percent of all the logging taking place is illegal. Estimates suggest that this criminal activity generates approximately US$10-15 billion annually worldwide funds that are unregulated, untaxed, and often remain in the hands of organized criminal gangs. Thus far, domestic and international efforts to curb forest crimes have focused on preventative actions, but they have had little or no significant impact. While prevention is an essential part of enforcement efforts to tackle illegal logging, it has not halted the rapid disappearance of the world's old-growth trees. New ideas and strategies are needed to preserve what is left of forests. This paper suggests that current practice be combined with a more targeted, punitive approach, through more effective use of the criminal justice system. It argues that the criminal justice system should form an integral part of any balanced and organized strategy for fighting forest crime. This strategy should include initiatives to enhance the efficiency of criminal justice in combating illegal logging that is, the investigation, prosecution, and conviction of cases, as well as the confiscation of the proceeds of criminal activity. These initiatives should be deployed in parallel with preventive programs, and the two approaches should complement and reinforce each other. The criminal justice system has been used in the fight against illegal logging, but only in very sporadic instances and in limited and ineffective ways. Moreover, in those few cases, it has tended to target low-level criminals whose involvement in illegal logging is due to poverty. As such, it has created no real deterrent and has encouraged skeptics to further discount the relevance of criminal justice methods. The objective of this paper is to inform policy makers and forestry and law enforcement actors how they can use the criminal justice system in fighting illegal logging. It seeks to mobilize them to take action and address the various criminal acts involved in illegal logging operations. The paper puts forward practical suggestions that can be implemented to achieve a tangible improvement in this fight. Rather than focusing on a single element of the criminal justice system, it provides a broad overview of the topic. Future papers may provide an opportunity to flesh out further detail.

Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012. 60p.

By World Bank

This paper has two goals - to motivate policy makers in developed and emerging economies to pay more attention to illegal logging, fishing, and wildlife trade, and to provide a road map to address the root causes of the illegal activities. Illegal wildlife trade directly causes declines in species population, resulting in the deterioration of ecosystem functions. Illegal activities involve trade of species threatened with extinction, including many keystone species. It also covers a range of mammals, such as pangolins (considered the world’s most trafficked mammal), and wood products such as rosewood, and marine mammals such as the vaquita found in the Sea of Cortez in Mexico. For all practical purposes, combating illegal logging, fishing, and wildlife trade is a governance issue that first and foremost requires high-level political commitment at the national and international levels. The financial action task force (FATF) recommendations (FATF 2012-19) provide a framework for a risk-based, peer-reviewed system of mutual evaluations for compliance with global standards on money laundering and terrorist financing. The national risk assessment tools can be expanded to also address illegal logging, fishing, and wildlife trade and other natural resources crimes.

Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019. 70p.

By Jabin T. Jacob

The India-Myanmar border regions form a forgotten frontier in the Indian and global imagination. India’s frontiers to the west (Pakistan), to the north (Tibet/China) and to the south (Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean) have always received greater attention. Today, however, the region representing the conjunction of India, China and Myanmar is returning to the centre of attention for a number of reasons both old and new. Violence (‘Guns’) has been endemic in the region since communities and peoples were rent asunder by the imposition and policing of officially demarcated borders between India and Myanmar. Yet, trade (‘Blankets’) – both formal and informal – has managed to carry on. What has added to the importance of the region in the eyes of the national capitals, is the increasing severity of transnational challenges such as drug-trafficking and the spread of diseases (‘Bird Flu’). Together, these three factors have kept both a regional identity as well as specific community identities alive. This paper is an attempt to examine the region-building properties of these factors.

Cahiers de SPIRIT, 2010. 27p,

By Nick van Doormaal

Wildlife crime is not a single event, but rather a chain of crime events, as depicted in Figure 1.1 and adapted from Moreto and Lemieux (2015) and ‘t Sas-Rolfes et al. (2019). Poaching, the illegal taking of wild flora and fauna, is the first event in a series of crimes that supply the demand for illicit wildlife products. After a poaching event, wildlife will typically be processed, transported to markets, traded, and consumed by the end user. Depending on the context, a number of different people or groups of people can be involved at various stages of the wildlife crime chain. The first stage of the wildlife crime chain will almost always start with a motivated poacher trying to illegally obtain a wildlife product inside a protected area. To prevent this product from entering the market, robust security of protected areas is essential. The studies in this dissertation focus on the poaching stage

Amsterdam: Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), 2020. 168p.