Trafficking in Wildlife—Strengthened Laws

Two seemingly unrelated transnational law enforcement focuses have been brought together as calls for strengthened protections have risen regarding antiquities- and wildlife-trafficking.^[1]

According to the Independent, “[e]nvironmentalists are to campaign for the protection of the ancient sacred sites of tribal religions, as a way of saving endangered wildlife.”^[2] Brazil is hosting a “giant intergovernmental conservation conference” this week, and a number of sacred spots across the globe are the focus of efforts to reduce environmental damage.^[3] Sites like the Kakamega Forest in Africa, the Wirikuta region of the Chihuahua desert, the Tiburon Island in the Gulf of California, the Cayambe-Coca Volcano in Ecuador, the Boloma-Bijagos archipelago off the coast of Africa, and the Vilcanota Spiritual Park in the Andes are sites which are revered by indigenous cultures, and all have seen environmental damage due to oil production, over-hunting, over-fishing, over-logging, or tourism.^[4] The 188 members of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity will take up the issues when they meet in Curitiba, Brazil.^[5]

According to Klaus Toepfer, the executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme, “[t]here is clear and growing evidence of a link between reverence for the land and a breadth of unique and special plants and animals. … Sadly, sacred sites are also under threat, and there is an urgent need to help local, indigenous and traditional peoples safeguard their heritage. This can do much to conserve the biological and genetic diversity upon which we all depend.”^[6]

At the same time, John Sellar, the senior enforcement officer of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, is calling for the world to “do more to halt wildlife smuggling and slow extinctions caused by criminals such as a woman caught with the egg of an endangered bird in her bra.”^[7] Most countries’ anti-trafficking resources are directed against drugs, weapons, and humans; “[w]ildlife crime-busters have scant resources compared with [those] squads … even though the products—from caviar to shawls made from the wool of an endangered Tibetan antelope—can sell for more than their weight in gold.”^[8] One man was arrested in Abu Dhabi last year after paying more than $200,000 for an endangered falcon, and several women have been arrested with bird eggs hidden in their bras; the body heat makes it a good incubator, and it is “far easier to transport than a squawking parrot.”^[9] In August, we mentioned that a man was arrested in Miami after he tried to smuggle Cuban birds into the country by hiding them in his underwear.

Because of threats of avian flu and environmental destruction, it is expected that the delegates in Brazil will take an aggressive approach to trafficking in wildlife meaning that member nations will enact tougher new laws and regulations, as well as increasing the resources available to prosecute wildlife smugglers.^[10]

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[1] Geoffrey Lean, Global SOS: Save our Sacred Sites, The Independent, Mar. 27, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Alister Doyle, World Must Tackle Wildlife Smuggling, UN Official Says, Reuters (via Environmental News Network), Mar. 27, 2006.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.