As the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2023, UNODC takes this opportunity to reflect on its collaborative work in Asia and the Pacific to reduce wildlife crime.
Officials learning how to use an endoscope to help inspect and intercept illegally-traded wildlife in the Philippines.
Ivory smuggled out of Africa into Asia. Illegal timber traded out of Southeast Asia to neighboring countries. Dried seahorses trafficked across regions. Sea cucumbers and giant conch stolen from the Pacific. Wild tigers laundered through legitimate captive breeding facilities. Unlawful trade in sea turtles.
These and other wildlife and forest crimes are often transnational – meaning that their import/export, supply chains, and criminal jurisdictions extend beyond national borders. Confronting them therefore requires a comprehensive and coordinated effort among all actors in the criminal justice chain.
UNODC’s holistic approach supports interventions from “crime scene to court”. This means that its activities extend from crime prevention – including education at the primary and university levels – all the way to providing support to ensure that the criminal justice practitioners tasked with prevention, those who draft and implement legislation, those who plan and carry out seizures, and those who investigate offences or prosecute offenders all work together towards achieving a common objective.
Whether it be with a wildlife crime taskforce in the Philippines or through strengthening collaborations between investigators and law enforcement in the Solomon Islands, UNODC builds bridges between agencies along the entire criminal justice chain.
An ivory stockpile on the floor of an open warehouse, while UNODC staff stand with Cambodian officials using the Portable Enforcement Laboratory Testing Service.
Working with wildlife forensic specialists (TRACE Wildlife Forensics Network), UNODC supports operations at the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (IEBR) forensics laboratory in Viet Nam, ensuring the laboratory is operating at the highest standards of quality control and has sufficient resources to support police and customs investigations into wildlife trafficking. With the support of UNODC, the IEBR is now the only forensics laboratory fully assessed to be compliant with the Society for Wildlife Forensic Sciences (SWFS) International Standards and Guidelines outside of the United States.
In other countries in Southeast Asia where there is an absence of wildlife DNA forensic capacity (for instance, Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) and the Philippines), UNODC supports a Portable Enforcement Laboratory Testing Service (PELTS), through which a mobile laboratory and expert forensic scientists can be deployed to help collect evidence for later prosecution.
Surrounded by three UNODC staff members, a monkey sits in a cage at a facility where the SAFE project is implementing its risk assessment framework.
The Safety across Asia for the Global Environment Project (SAFE) – funded by the European Union and implemented in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) – aims to prevent future pandemics by focusing on the connection between wildlife trafficking and zoonotic disease transmission.
SAFE, implemented in Thailand, Vietnam, Lao PDR and the State of Sabah in Malaysia, has developed a risk assessment framework and is conducting visits at facilities and locations with the highest risk of passing zoonotic diseases from wild animals to humans to promote good practices and recommend risk-mitigating policy changes.
Where there is wildlife crime, there is often also corruption. From the poaching of the animal to the issuance of licenses for captive breeding facilities, public officials and private sector entities can facilitate the supply chain of the illegal wildlife trade. The vast profits generated from this crime then must be laundered and moved across borders for the criminal to benefit. The problem is further exacerbated by new technology and greater connectivity that allow cyber criminals to facilitate the illicit trade.
To address these challenges, UNODC trains law enforcement officials in Sri Lanka on open-source online investigation techniques and works together with Thailand’s authorities to assess the risk of corruption in the wildlife sector.
Exchanging information on investigations and coordinating efforts between regions are essential to prosecute transnational criminal syndicates. Through the Wildlife Inter-Regional Enforcement (WIRE) network, enforcement and criminal justice specialists from three continents have been collaborating for the past six years on transnational cases by sharing information and best practices to tackle wildlife crime.
The joint Customs Operation Mekong Dragon, established in 2018, brings together 27 law enforcement agencies from 24 countries and territories from across Asia and the Pacific to target drugs and wildlife trafficking. The recently concluded 4th phase highlighted a decreasing trend in seizures of wildlife and timber from 2021 to 2022, attributed to tightened controls over passenger and air parcel delivery, as well as legal system reforms instituted by several countries in recent years.
