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Highlights Day 1: 10 March 2013 27 Mr. Md. Atiqul Islam, additional deputy inspector general of the Bangladesh Police, asked if CITES can ban the trade in ornamental trophies. Ms. Yeater responded that CITES member states are entitled to submit proposals to the CITES CoP, and therefore make the convention work as an effective policy instrument. C. Mapping Trafficking Routes for Illegal Activities Dr. Ken B. Johm, manager of the Natural Resources and Environment Management Division of the African Development Bank’s Agriculture and Agro-Industry Department, welcomed back all the participants from the coffee break. Mr. Steven Broad, executive director of TRAFFIC International, talked about mapping wildlife trading and improving interventions in the illegal wildlife trade by analyzing trade route. Mr. Broad explained that wildlife trade occurs through common trade routes and vectors at local and international levels, passing through hubs like road and rail networks, seaports, airports, and border crossings and involving shipping companies, airlines, couriers, and the entire banking system. Enforcers should follow the money trail and analyze the sources and markets of wildlife in order to better understand trade routes. Wildlife source countries and regions are plagued by weak governance, which renders wildlife vulnerable to illicit trade, while fisheries sources exhibit no clear governance at all, complicating efforts to map the wildlife trade and target intervention efforts. TRAFFIC uses the Elephant Trade Information System, which features data on over 18,000 illicit ivory trade interventions across the world since 1989, to investigate the ivory trade. Using a series of proxy indicators for enforcement and reporting efforts, TRAFFIC uncovered the growth in the ivory trade, involving an increasing number of organized criminal elements. Data on large-scale ivory seizures show that unregulated domestic ivory markets also drive the illegal trade in ivory. The Elephant Trade Information System analysis reveals which countries are most implicated in the illicit ivory trade in terms of trade flows from source countries to transit points to end markets, and are therefore either priority countries or secondary countries of concern for stronger CITES implementation and increased international wildlife policy making and enforcement. Mr. Broad also presented TRAFFIC’s analysis of seizures of tiger parts, skins, and bones from 2000 to 2012. TRAFFIC has been collaborating with countries that provide information that could serve as a basis for georeferencing wildlife trade information. TRAFFIC identified India as having the biggest recorded seizures of tiger parts because that country has also been adopting a large number of enforcement measures. India is thus able to arrest the trade before the tiger parts are exported. However, TRAFFIC was still able to seize tiger parts in the PRC, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. TRAFFIC conducted georeferencing and obtained detailed location information on all the seizures. Applying statistical analysis, TRAFFIC learned how best to allocate law enforcement resources and targeted the following hot spots for the tiger trade: Delhi, around the Corbett National Park, Central India, the Calcutta–Sunderbans area, and Western Ghats.
28 Symposium on Combating Wildlife Crime In conclusion, Mr. Broad suggested examining wildlife trade mapping as an aid in understanding wildlife crime in terms of sources and markets, trade routes, points of vulnerability, and places where TRAFFIC has a stronger chance of enforcement intervention. TRAFFIC could encourage the inspection of shipping containers during transfer from one ship to another at a particular port, as well as at air transport hubs. All these wildlife trade data could allow TRAFFIC and enforcement agencies to better analyze wildlife crime, target enforcement efforts, and focus action and resources. Dr. Scott Roberton, country representative of Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS)—Viet Nam, thanked ADB and the CITES Secretariat for organizing this symposium before presenting WCS’s case study on the significant illegal trafficking route of wildlife and other goods between the PRC and Viet Nam. As background, Dr. Roberton explained that WCS began studying Quàng Ninh and associated transit points, given estimates that (i) about 63% of all recorded cross-border trade happens between Viet Nam and Guangxi, and (ii) about 95% of all wildlife traded to the PRC passes through Ha Long and Mong Cái. Quàng Ninh also has more than 60 river and seaports, one international border crossing between Viet Nam and the PRC, and the ADB-financed Ha Long–Mong Cái expressway traversed by about 500 container trucks every day. WCS’s collaboration with the CITES Management Authority of Viet Nam and the General Department of Viet Nam Customs in compiling and analyzing customs declarations and CITES permits confirmed the significance of Mong Cái as a smuggling point between Viet Nam and the PRC for (i) wild-caught endangered reptile specimens coming from other Southeast Asian countries passing through Viet Nam border gates, Mong Cái, and finally into the PRC; (ii) ivory, with 18,500 kilograms reportedly seized between 2009 and 2011; (iii) frozen tigers; (iv) pangolins, more than 20 tons in weight, coming from Indonesia seized in 2008 in Haiphong en route to Mong Cái and the PRC; and (v) rhino horns, with 14 pieces seized in Dong Xing in January 2013 alone. WCS mapped out Mong Cái, its borders, and the different transit points through which goods pass and identified three major wildlife trade routes: (i) smuggling points, (ii) customs clearance points, and (iii) the Bac Luan International Border Gate. WCS also profiled criminal brokers, who coordinate the illegal movement of wildlife, humans, drugs, and other goods across borders to be professional, organized, cooperative with one another, and innovative. To get government agencies involved and politically motivated to take action, it performed statistical analysis by considering the number of vehicles trading goods at these three different points as the proxy figure. In the process, it discovered that nearly 34,000 vehicles pass through these transit points, 2% of which pass through the Bac Luan crossing, 22% through customs clearance points, and 76% through smuggling points. In addition, WCS estimated the number of shipments occurring at these various points on an average day and realized that everybody in the city knows these points. Second, the busiest times for shipments actually happen during office working hours. Third, while border officials get paid huge sums of money in “unofficial crossing fees,” the states involved lose customs fees and fines. Lastly, crackdowns on smuggling routes also have no impact on the illegal wildlife trade happening through Mong Cái. In fact, the number of vehicles passing through the transit points was greater than average. WCS released its findings to the relevant authorities in the PRC and Viet Nam. In response, the customs agency of Guangxi, PRC, launched a longer period of crackdown along the border and constructed new walls and border army stations along the Ka Long river, while the Prime Minister’s Office
Page 1 and 2: SYMPOSIUM ON COMBATING WILDLIFE CRI
Page 3 and 4: © 2014 Asian Development Bank All
Page 5 and 6: iv Contents PLENARY SESSION 4 Wild
Page 7 and 8: vi Foreword These proceedings recor
Page 9 and 10: viii Acknowledgments From ADB, Mr.
Page 11 and 12: x Abbreviations PRC - People’s Re
Page 13 and 14: 2 Symposium on Combating Wildlife C
Page 19 and 20: Highlights Day 1: 10 March 2013 OP
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78 Symposium on Combating Wildlife
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Appendix 1 Concept Note Side Event
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108 Appendix 1 Approach: The conven
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110 Appendix 2
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112 Appendix 2 3:30-5:00 p.m. B. Ke
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114 Appendix 2 10:15-10:30 a.m. Cof
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116 Appendix 2 Day 3: Tuesday, 12 M
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118 Appendix 2 ANNEX B DETAILED DES
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120 Appendix 2 Question and Answer
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122 Appendix 2 3:00-3:15 p.m. Coffe
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Appendix 3 List of Resource Persons
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126 Appendix 3 Continued from previ
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128 Appendix 4 JUDICIARY continued
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130 Appendix 4 MINISTRIES continued
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132 Appendix 4 CUSTOMS continued Na
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