Tanzania’s hardly been out of the headlines since quietly slipping in an application earlier this month to reduce international protection for its elephant populations and auction off 101 tonnes of stockpiled ivory
The international community is finally recognising that environmental crime is not some small-scale criminal activity taking place deep in the jungles of Africa or Asia but is serious, growing, transnational and, shockingly, highly organised through the involvement of notorious criminal syndicates and terrorist groups
The use of rhino horn as a recreational drug or cancer treatment in Asia is based on myths, but has escalated exponentially over the last few years. As a result, rhino in Africa and Asia are brutally slaughtered in huge numbers for their horns. The trade is attracting the attention of organised crime
“The media tend to focus on wildlife crimes they can see,” says Bryan Christy, journalist and author. Christy, who earlier this year addressed INTERPOL’s Wildlife Crime Working Group, wants to see a shift in the way environmental crime is talked about and tackled: shift the focus onto the villains
Parties attending the 62nd meeting of Standing Committee to CITES were subjected to an extraordinary floor show during discussions on a document advocating a De Beers-style controlling body for an international trade in ivory – a Central Ivory Selling Organisation
At present, EIA’s wildlife campaigns are focused on investigating and campaigning to end the illegal trade of products from key species such as tigers and other Asian big cats, elephants and cetaceans, and protecting their habitats; my work has been focused on Asian big cats and elephants