Online illegal wildlife trade helps put SA in top 5 of seizures
The organised illegal wildlife and forest trade is a multibillion-rand industry that continues to thrive and technology allows syndicates to operate online, significantly increasing the scope of an illegal global industry.
An Indonesian official displays a seized baby wreathed hornbill during a press conference in Surabaya, East Java on February 4, 2020. Indonesian authorities said early January they had seized 27 cockatoo parrots and dozens of other animals sold online, as the country battles to clamp down on illegal wildlife trade. Picture: AFP / JUNI KRISWANTO
Tracing the illegal wildlife trade’s routes reveals that South Africa and China’s trade relationship is lucrative, with both being listed in the top five countries for wildlife trafficking seizures between 2016 and 2018, a recent report published by the EMS Foundation and Ban Animal Trading revealed.
Although wildlife trade occurs on every continent, the report cited that between 2016 and 2019, about 5,035 live wild animals were exported from South Africa to China.
Many of these trades were facilitated online, thanks to the lure of international reach, coupled with the convenience of anonymity – not surprising in a world where virtually anything can be purchased using a phone or computer.
International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Asia regional director Grace Ge Gabriel revealed a survey found seven out of 10 Chinese people did not know that ivory comes from dead elephants.
If they had known where ivory came from, 80% of them said they would reject the use of it completely.
The United Nations Environment Programme estimates that the illegal wildlife trade is worth between $7 billion (R122 million) and $23 billion annually.
With an industry so vast that it has now turned to the internet to facilitate the sale of wild animals and products, regulating and policing it would be an administrative and logistical nightmare.
By March, more than 3 million endangered species listings were blocked or removed from the coalition companies’ websites.
Marketplace Africa, created by Mall of Africa, blocked 1,325 user accounts for violating wildlife policies and the OLX Group has beefed up its policies and created a staff position to implement these across its more than 30 markets.
Tech Transparency Project reported last month that despite pangolins being the most trafficked mammal on the planet, the illegal trade of the scaly creatures was still ongoing.
Cue IFAW and Chinese multinational tech company Baidu’s launch of an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tool, designed to identify images of wildlife and products illegally traded online.
Currently, AI Guardian is able to identify these illegal animal parts with 75% accuracy.
– nicas@citizen.co.za
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