Illegal wildlife trade

THE illicit trafficking of wildlife, including illegal fishing and logging is the fourth largest crime in the world.

Environment Ministry permanent secretary Dr Sivendra Michael said this to the participants at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Pacific Sub-Regional Forum on Crimes that Affect the Environment onference in Nadi yesterday.

“As a region rich in natural resources, with vast marine spaces, limited capacity on surveillance systems, and rare and endangered endemic species that are highly valuable in the trade, the Pacific is an attractive source location for wildlife criminals and specialist collectors,” he said.

The trafficking of wildlife, he said, was increasingly recognised as both a specialised area of organised crime and a significant threat to many plant and animal species.

“Criminal groups use the same routes, facilitators, and techniques to traffic wildlife as they do for other illicit commodities.

“Gaps in national law enforcement and criminal justice systems are also exploited and by taking a stand against wildlife crime, we also stand against organised crime, illicit trade and corruption.”

He said combating crimes that affected the environment was a huge challenge and there was a need to strengthen cooperation between agencies to scale up coordination between countries.

“We are facing a biodiversity crisis as many keystone species are endangered or threatened and over one million species of flora and fauna has become extinct in the last decade.”