The Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC), a grantee of the Pangolin Crisis Fund, has published an early analysis of COVID-19’s impact on illegal wildlife trafficking. Using intelligence gathered from undercover operatives, the WJC report shows that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have extended to wildlife poaching and trafficking networks, hindering business operations.
The report summarizes the effects of COVID-19 on illegal wildlife trafficking from January to April 2020. Wildlife criminals are facing many of the same challenges that regular business owners are now tackling in the wake of shelter in place restrictions. Road and border closures paired with increased security have heavily impacted transportation of goods. Though the demand for illegal wildlife product has remained stable, traffickers have been unable to deliver their supply. As a result, traffickers have increased their stockpiles of ivory and pangolin scales as they wait for restrictions to alleviate.
Illegal wildlife traffickers have experienced various obstacles with air transportation. As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, more and more airports implemented mandatory post flight quarantine, which deterred traffickers from traveling by air. Mid-March of 2020, airlines stopped allowing live animals to be transported and many flights were delayed or rerouted unexpectedly. All of these circumstances rendered air transportation as unreliable for illegal wildlife shipments and reduced trafficking temporarily.
The WJC report highlighted specific countries in Asia where illegal wildlife trade has been affected by the pandemic. In Vietnam, a temporary restriction on bilateral trade with China caused a frenzy for traffickers and some started offering illegal wildlife at a reduced price. Many shops selling illegal wildlife products in Cambodia and Lao PDR closed as business ceased and they could no longer afford to remain open. WJC operatives discovered trade routes to 12 countries operated by Malaysian criminal networks that remained functional until February 2020, when transportation slowed down, and by March 2020, it had ground to a halt. China announced a ban on wildlife trade and consumption in February 2020, though the ban did not include traditional medicines containing wildlife products.
Wildlife conservation agencies are concerned that wildlife poaching will see an increase during the pandemic due to reduced patrols of protected wild areas and law enforcement resources diverted to dealing with COVID-19. The pandemic has had a short-term effect on the success of illegal wildlife trafficking groups, but intelligence shows that these networks are working to find ways around transportation, supply chain and consumer market restrictions to resume business as soon as possible.
To read the full Wildlife Justice Commission report, click here.
Photo: Sunda pangolin © Dan Challender / IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group
