Report: Wildlife in Sub-Saharan Africa Decimated by Traffickers

ADF STAFF

Sub-Saharan Africa plays a major role in the global illicit trade in wildlife materials, particularly in the flow of materials into Asia, according to a new analysis by the United Nations.

Pangolins, whose scales are a popular component of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), make up a third of the wildlife materials trafficked to Asia. Pangolin scales, together with elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns, comprise 95% of the animal material seized while being trafficked out of Africa and 72% of animal materials trafficked worldwide, according to the World Wildlife Crime Report 2024.

The report was developed in collaboration with the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime. It drew upon data from the U.N. Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, Interpol, the World Bank, and the World Customs Organization to create a snapshot of wildlife trafficking worldwide.

“Despite gaps in knowledge about the full extent of wildlife trafficking and associated crime, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that this remains a significant global problem far from being resolved,” the authors of the report wrote in their analysis.

Between 2015 and 2019, wildlife trafficking, including from Sub-Saharan Africa, surged sharply. Between 2019 and 2020, travel restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic cut deeply into trafficking of animal parts. The traffic in animal parts trended slowly and steadily upward again after 2020. That slow and steady growth was offset by the skyrocketing trafficking of plant materials, such as African rosewood, between 2019 and 2021, according to the analysis.

Court cases in Malawi in 2021, Tanzania in 2023 and elsewhere on the continent have revealed the connections between wildlife traffickers and Chinese organized criminal groups. As a result, the effort to rein in wildlife trafficking must be part of a broader campaign against organized crime as a whole, according to the World Wildlife Crime Report authors.

Research on enforcement efforts shows that a crackdown in one country can push poachers and traffickers to other countries where laws or enforcement are more lax.

“Traffickers exploit inconsistencies and weaknesses in regulation and enforcement,” the authors wrote.

Corruption of local and national authorities by organized crime groups lies at the heart of much of the wildlife trafficking in sub-Saharan Africa, the report notes. However, governments rarely approach trafficking from that angle, focusing on environmental laws instead.

“Greater consideration should be given to prosecution of those organizing or enabling wildlife trafficking under laws directly addressing corruption,” the report authors wrote. Doing so could boost law enforcement officers’ investigative powers and create the potential for more aggressive penalties than are available for purely environmental crimes, they added.

The impact of wildlife trafficking reaches beyond the individual species themselves.

Park rangers tasked with protecting Africa’s wildlife are often targeted by poachers. Between 2006 and 2021, more than 2,300 rangers died in the line of duty. The majority of deaths were in Africa and Asia.

The drive to feed the demand for illicit wildlife parts also has a devastating impact on the local environment where the animals are hunted. As African countries work to protect their plants and animals from wildlife traffickers, enforcement agencies need more resources, the report’s authors wrote.

“Even when there is political will, the agencies responsible for implementation and enforcement of wildlife trade regulations may lack the capacity and resources they need to perform effectively,” they wrote.