Drug smugglers jump into endangered species trade
Date: 13-Aug-02
Country: SOUTH AFRICA
"Drug traffickers feeling the heat from the law are...using their existing illicit smuggling infrastructures to trade in endangered species, precious minerals and toxic waste," said the the organisers of the Envirolaw 2002 conference hosted by South Africa later this month.
Conference chairman and environmental lawyer Francois Joubert said the trade in endangered species is believed to amount to between $6 billion and $10 billion annually.
Illegal fishing is put at between $4 and $5 billion a year, while the illicit dumping of toxic waste generated up to $2 billion a year, he said.
"The amounts of money and profits involved in illegal environmental crimes...can be as high as those quoted around the international drug smuggling trade," Joubert said.
The Envirolaw conference, to be held in the port city of Durban from August 22 to 25, is one of many side events being held ahead of or in conjunction with the U.N.'s forthcoming Earth Summit in Johannesburg.
The conference will look at ways to tighten legislation and combat illicit environmental practices such as illegal logging and the trade in endangered animals and their body parts.
It will be attended by Gro Harlem Brundtland, a former Norwegian prime minister and current head of the World Health Organisation, former South African President Nelson Mandela, and dozens of academics, lawyers and law enforcement officials.
Joubert said illegal logging was believed to generate over $8 billion a year for criminal organisations in Eastern Europe, Latin America, Africa and China.
"Many nations, especially in the developing world, lack the infrastructure, the laws and strong anti-corruption procedures to prevent this growing trade (in illicit environmental products)," he said.
Africa's elephant populations were decimated by poachers involved in the global ivory trade, which was banned in 1989, stemming the slaughter of the majestic beasts.
Currently, the illicit "bushmeat" trade and illegal logging activities in central and west Africa are pushing many primates to the brink of extinction, including gorillas and chimpanzees.
The Earth Summit, officially called the World Summit on Sustainable Development, will be held in Johannesburg from August 26 to September 4 and will look at related issues, including threats to biodiversity.
