The global illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is now recognised as a serious transnational organised crime. Although there are various estimates of the scale of the crime, the most commonly quoted figure puts the proceeds from IWT in a range of $7-23 billion a year.
EIA research reveals that at least twenty-four Chinese pharmaceutical companies have been listing leopard bones as an ingredient in their traditional medicines, although there are fewer than 450 wild leopards left in that country.
There is no escaping the fact that countries from which wild tigers have been wiped out or virtually wiped out in recent years – Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and China – are countries where the tiger has been valued solely for the sum of its body parts.
With the announcement that the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress will make revisions to China’s Wildlife Protection Law, the country’s primary piece of legislation covering wildlife conservation and trade, EIA has prepared comments and specific recommendations (in English and Chinese) to urge positive changes for wildlife.
These resolutions, decisions and recommendations demonstrate that CITES Parties have agreed on a mandate to address domestic trade issues, including legal and illegal domestic trade, in certain circumstances. Below is a non-exhaustive list of examples of such recommendations adopted by the CoP.