Together against the illegal wildlife trade

Progress to clamp down on environmental crimes is being made, but the statistics continue to be grim

March 3 was World Wildlife Day, when we paused to celebrate the astonishing diversity of fauna and flora on this planet, and reflect on the challenges they face.

You may ask why the United Nations chose in late 2013 to establish this new day of commemoration. After all, surely everyone is now aware of the many threats to wildlife? To a certain extent, this is true. But, regrettably, the extent of humanity's negative impacts on species and their habitats is still not fully appreciated.

And global action to conserve species, including iconic creatures such as the African elephant, has yet to reach the level required to ensure these treasures of the natural world will enrich our lives for generations to come.

Despite growing awareness and action, the statistics make for grim reading.

In years gone by, massive herds of elephants roamed the savannahs and forests of the African continent, but the number is declining because each year about 20,000 to 25,000 of these animals are killed.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora reported that last year alone, 1,215 rhinos were poached in South Africa. This equates to more than three rhinos killed each day.

The illicit traffic in live great apes is an increasingly serious threat to chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos in Africa and Asia. According to latest estimates, a minimum of 220 chimpanzees, 106 orangutans, 33 bonobos and 15 gorillas have been lost from the wild in the past year or so. Since 2005, the overall loss is likely to be in excess of 22,000.

Finally, there are only 80 Spix's macaws left in the world, most of them kept by foreign bird keepers, which is why two of the birds were due to arrive in Sao Paulo recently as part of a program to return the species to its original Brazilian habitat.

Much of this species loss is driven by one of the oldest, and worst, human motivations: profit. Global environmental crime is worth up to $213 billion each year, and helps finance corruption, crime, conflict and civil strife. Not only does this trade decimate wildlife populations, it puts money in the pockets of groups that threaten the security and sustainable development of many nations.

We know the scale of the problem, and we have a responsibility to ensure that the world knows it, too. We all have a duty to do what we can, at every level of society, to halt the decline. The good news is that progress has been made on many levels.

Early last year China crushed 6.2 metric tons of illegal ivory, the first time that this key destination country has done so. Many other countries have destroyed ivory stocks. Kenya, of course, burned stockpiles in 1989 and 2011, and did so earlier this month. Destroying ivory does not, of course, end the illegal ivory trade. But it sends a clear signal that it will no longer be tolerated.

Enforcement is also improving. In the same month that China burned its ivory, Kenya began a crackdown on poaching, handing down a custodial sentence to a man caught smuggling an ivory tusk through Nairobi. Operation Wildcat in East Africa, which involved authorities from five countries, resulted in 660 arrests and the seizure of 240 kilograms of elephant ivory.

These successes prove we know what needs to be done. We must reduce demand for illegally traded wildlife by ensuring that consumers understand the link between the products they buy and the wholesale slaughter or enslavement of wildlife. We must expose the criminal groups through increased enforcement in source, transit and destination countries. We must ensure that communities understand their long-term prosperity can improve should they conserve species, and thus the tourism revenues they bring. Ultimately, we are all in this together, and only collective action will halt the shameful trade. It's time to get serious about wildlife crime.

The author is executive director of the UNEP.