Wildlife Trafficking

This chapter addresses wildlife trafficking in four sections: the nature and extent of the harm; the structure of wildlife trafficking (considered in terms of source, transit and market); regulation and control; and finally a discussion about wildlife trafficking as business enterprise. Common structures and routines of wildlife trafficking are reviewed, including links between conventional and illicit trade, the networks that join up poachers, traffickers and the marketplace, and tensions between international conservation norms and the values of local populations. The CITES convention is considered along with its critics. In terms of theory, it is noted that wildlife trafficking falls within the topic interest of both green criminologists and organised crime scholars, which can lead to a variety of theoretical approaches to the subject matter. As with other chapters in the book, the final section looks to sources that reveal first-hand or interview accounts of how traffickers think about their activities, and makes the case for framing wildlife trafficking as business enterprise.