UNEP Perspectives Publication - Issue 14

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Publication Date: May 2014

ILLICIT WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING: AN ENVIRONMENTAL, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ISSUE.

Over the past 18 months, wildlife crime has become an issue of concern at the highest 

political level, taken up in the United Nations by the Security Council, General Assembly 

and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; at regional fora such as the Africa Security Summit, 

the APEC Leaders Meeting and the European Union; and by a growing number of 

Heads of States and world leaders, from President Ali Bongo of Gabon and President 

Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, to US President Barack Obama and the UK Royal Family. 

Worldwide there is a growing realization that such crime is not simply an issue of 

environmental concern. Certainly it has decimated populations of some of the world’s 

most iconic wildlife species, but wildlife crime reaches into many natural resource sectors; it 

negatively impacts economic development, engenders corruption and undermines the rule of 

law, putting national and potentially even international security at risk. It is a serious issue that 

affects us all.