04 Jun 2014

Wildlife trafficking and poaching is threatening Africa’s economic development and wiping out some of the hard earned economic and social developments achieved by the continent in recent years.

This was said by the regional environmental health officer in the US Department of State in the American Embassy, Mr Dovas Saulys at the first conference on wildlife poaching and timber organised by the United Nations office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) on June 3.

Mr Saulys raised a concern that most of the wildlife poachers were often released without being charged while high level traffickers were rarely apprehended. “If modern criminal history is any guide, the successful prosecution of high level wildlife trafficking and smugglers will almost certainly require application of financial statutes,” he said.

He noted that wildlife trafficking was often treated as a petty crime or a nuisance rather than a serious crime on par with extortion and money laundering, tax invasion or drug trafficking.

The regional environmental health officer said wildlife crime was frequently a low-risk, high gain enterprise, adding that it was crucial for participants to change the rquation.

Mr Saulys said poaching and wildlife trafficking also threaten biodiversity, rule of law, public health and the security of nations. He however said the economic impacts are often underestimated.  

He also stated that the World Bank estimates that with effective planning, Africa’s tourism industry could create almost four million jobs in the next ten years.

“Considering what is at stake, it is no wonder that the Kenya Association of Tour Operators refers to poaching as economic sabotage,” he added.

In addition, he said for wildlife tourism to contribute significantly to a nation’s Gross Domestic Product, the wildlife resource must be protected from poaching adding that for wildlife tourism to be a powerful development path and poverty eradication tool, the region’s environmental wealth must not only be preserved but must also be well distributed.

He also said governments should allow rural communities to be a part of the activities, by empowering and organising them to manage local natural resources.

He however commended Botswana and other Southern African nations pioneered the concept of Community Based Natural Resource Management in the late 1980s.

“To succeed; communities need long-term support and training,” he added.  Presenting on “The scale of illegal timber trafficking” Mr Thomas Pichet of the European Forestry Institute explained that East Africa accounts for approximately 60 per cent of the global illegal timber exports.

He said a substantial quantity of timber exported from Africa to Asia is illegal and this has an economic development impact in the continent.

This, he said, is because forestry crimes contribute to loss of degradation of forests as well as the destruction of wildlife habitats and a threaten biodiversity.

Mr Pichet said some of the economic impacts of timber crimes are that illegal products are depressing world prices by between seven and 16 per cent adding that it also undermines incentives for sustainable forest management.

He called on all countries to consider making timber crimes a serious offence because those who buy it do not know that the product is being exported illegally from its origin.

For his part, UNODC Money Laundering advisor Mr Christopher Batt also emphasised the need for political will in order to combat the scourge of wildlife poaching and timer crimes.

The three day conference is being held under the theme “Recovering the Proceeds from Wildlife and Timber Crimes.”Ends