COMBATTING WASTE CRIME

Wildlife trafficking involves the illegal trade, smuggling, poaching, capture, or collection of endangered species, protected wildlife (including animals or plants that are subject to harvest quotas and regulated by permits), derivatives, or products thereof. There is, however, no universally accepted definition of the term and different jurisdictions and organisations employ different terminology. International organisations, such as UNODC and INTERPOL use the term 'wildlife and forest crime' to 'refer to the taking, trading (supplying, selling or trafficking), importing, exporting, processing, possessing, obtaining and consumption of wild fauna and flora, including timber and other forest products, in contravention of national or international law. Broadly speaking, wildlife and forest crime is the illegal exploitation of the world's wild flora and fauna'.

There are many reasons why animal trafficking is still so prevalent, but one of the largest reasons is considered to be poverty. This industry provides some stability, and due to the high demand for these luxury goods, the hunters are expected to be well compensated. Another aspect that allows this industry to continue is the demand for specific animal-based products. The people who are supplying poachers with income are looking to purchase luxury items like animal skins, ivory, or even medicine obtained from certain animals.

While there is a considerable range of available sentences, it is another question what sentences are actually imposed on those convicted of wildlife trafficking related offences. Statutory provisions usually provide a range of penalties within which sentences may be set. National penalties and sentencing laws or codes of criminal procedure usually spell out a range of aggravating and mitigating factors that determine the sentence imposed in individual cases. The respective factors and their use vary among jurisdictions and legal systems and traditions.

Moreover, field officers are regularly attacked by poachers and crime syndicates. For example, during the coordinated INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization (WCO) Operation Thunder (2020), five police officers and three forestry police officers in North Macedonia were attacked – leaving two of them seriously injured – while attempting to prevent illegal logging activities.

Challenges to the implementation of EU rules to tackle wildlife trafficking are numerous.

The most comprehensive picture to date about wildlife crimes in Europe, produced by the LIFE SWiPE project, reveals the lack of monitoring and political prioritisation to counteract this phenomenon. According to the report, the illegal killing of wildlife, using poisoned baits or prohibited methods and equipment for hunting, and the illegal wildlife trade, were the most common crimes across 11 European countries. Even if reported, many wildlife crime cases were not prosecuted. On average, 60% of wildlife crime complaints received by the prosecution did not result in indictments that led to court proceedings. The sanction most frequently applied was suspended imprisonment. The study also highlights best practices from across Europe that could boost the prosecution of these crimes. Specialised police units, the use of technology such as drones or GPS for endangered species monitoring, or the training of sniffer dogs to detect poisoning and wildlife crimes have improved the detection and investigation of these crimes. Although no animal population is spared from this threat, the goldfinch is the most targeted species according to the report. This tiny bird exemplifies the multiple criminal activities that devastate European wildlife - it is killed for ‘fancy’ food in Italy, targeted by ‘poaching tourism’ in Serbia, illegally traded to the Middle East from Ukraine, or captured as a pet in Spain. Other frequent victims of wildlife crime include threatened species of birds of prey, targeted by poisoned baits, and large carnivores such as bears, wolves or lynx.

The evaluation of the 2016 EU Action Plan found that wildlife trafficking has become a bigger priority among a wide range of policymakers, law enforcement agencies, and stakeholders in the EU and worldwide. The Action Plan was found to be comprehensive and flexible, leading to increased enforcement measures, coordination and cooperation, and altogether supported the EU's fight against wildlife trafficking.

Although good progress has been made on most of the 32 actions in the Action Plan, the evaluation showed that the EU and Member States need to intensify their efforts to address emerging challenges.

These include:

• traded species and trading routes evolve over time,
• the impact of wildlife trafficking on local communities,
• the connections between wildlife trade and the spread of zoonotic diseases,
• increasing online trade and related use of small-parcel services, and
• lack of capacity in many of the relevant agencies and authorities, worsened by a recent loss of revenues from wildlife tourism due to the pandemic and related restrictions.