WILDLIFE CRIME

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The global demand for wildlife products is
highest in Asia, where growing affluence
has fueled an unprecedented rise in the
trafficking of threatened species. The
harvesting, transportation and delivery of
threatened fauna and flora into legal through
laundering and clandestine markets is now
recognized to involve considerable levels of
criminality. Transnational organized crime
networks are increasingly engaged in such
activities, not only because of the high profits
which can be made, but also because they
have the set up the trade routes and personnel
required to conduct and control such operations.
‘Black market’ prices for several forms of wildlife
exceed, sometimes vastly, the monies paid for
cocaine, diamonds, gold or heroin.
These same organized crime groups have
brought to what, historically, might have
been viewed as illicit trade, degrees of
violence, intimidation, corruption and fraud
that are more commonly associated with the
trafficking of narcotics, firearms and human
trafficking. Trafficking in wildlife involves
money-laundering, counterfeiting of permits
and licenses, avoidance of currency controls,
taxes and import/exit duties or the acquisition
of necessary documents through extortion,
coercion and bribery.
The monetary value of all transnational
organized environmental crime is estimated at
between USD70–213 billion annually. Several
components of this trade represent signficant
sums: the illegal trade in flora and fauna is
valued at USD7-23 billion, illegal fisheries at
USD11-30 billion and illegal logging and forest
timber crime at USD30-100 billion. Hotspots
where wildlife trafficking is rife include the
Chinese borders, particularly China’s border
with Hong Kong, which is also the busiest
cargo airport, third-largest passenger airport
and the fourth-largest deep-water port in
the world. It further aims to be a hub and
super-connector as part of mainland China’s
ambitious “One Belt One Road” initiative
looking forward. Utilizing Hong Kong’s free
port status, the multi-billion dollar wildlife
trade industry uses air and sea entry points
to access the mainland. Annually, more CITES
seizures are made at the international border
between Hong Kong and China than at any
other border in China.
In response to the threat wildlife crime
poses, international decisions, alliances
and enforcement collaborations are gaining
momentum. Among these, the United States
and China are stepping up efforts to combat
wildlife crime. As wildlife trade statistics have
risen, the Hong Kong government so far has
failed to increase enforcement resources
relative to the scale and complexity of the
problem. Regardless of the fact that the
HKSAR authorities continue to encounter large
and growing volumes of illegal threatened
wildlife consignments, the Government has
continued to refuse to acknowledge that the
Territory is a major wildlife trafficking hub.
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