THE ILLEGAL TRADE IN WILDLIFE

Southeast Asia, being the only region which enjoys special tropical monsoon climate, is known for its amazing biodiversity, especially animals that cannot be found elsewhere. However, settling in an area with a dense population, these admirable species are being endangered by illegal wildlife trading. Wildlife has come to broadly reference to all wild plants, animals and other organisms. Wildlife can be found in all ecosystems. Deserts, forests, rain forests, plains, grasslands, other areas including the most developed urban sites, all have distinct forms of wildlife. Whenever people sell or exchange wild animal and plant resources, this is wildlife trade. It can involves live animals and plants or all kinds of wild animals and plant products. Wildlife trade is easiest to track when it is from one country to another country because it must be checked, and often recorded, at Customs checkpoints. Among all criminal activities in Southeast Asia, this is considered the second most lucrative, after drug trafficking. Poverty in the countries in the area has led a lot of citizens into the world of trafficking in order to feed the continuingly climbing demand for wild animals which are hunted for four main reasons that are food, medicine, forms of trophies and pets. Despite international and local laws designed to crack down on the trade of endangered or threatened species, these species were sold in open-air markets throughout many regions of the world. One of the monitoring groups in Europe claims that as a result, many species are simply disappearing. This sort of trade is most prominent in developing countries. The region that is most heavily influenced by this market is Asia. For example, China, in particular, is rich in biodiversity especially in the Himalayan region and local people have taken advantage of the resources surrounding them. In China, endangered mega-fauna such as the Tibetan antelope and Giant Panda are being smuggled from the Chinese Himalayan region to other countries. The Tibetan antelope is prized for its wool because of the extraordinary warmth and softness and can be manufactured into beautiful shawls. This wool is usually smuggled from Tibet to India via Nepal and then off to

Europe. Government officials in China stated that over 20,000 Tibetan antelopes are killed every year. Another rare animal that is among the worlds most threatened animals is the Giant Panda. Living in southwest China, there are only about 2500 left in the world. Theyre endangered because of habitat loss for the building of roads and railroads, poaching, and illegal wildlife trade. There are so many species dying, such as elephants from poaching, habitat loss, and conflict with people. There are the manatees which are dying from pollution in the sea. Most mustangs are dying because the ranchers capture them and tame them into farm horses because apparently its a crime for mustangs to run wild and free. It is important to understand what drives illegal trade and the circumstances that cause it to thrive, so that effective policies can be developed to counter it. As this decade, the key drivers may vary over time and from one location or sector to another. Any form of trade arises when there are profits to be made for those involved. But illegal trade arises particularly when the expected returns are greater than for trade carried out within the law. Even if the legal alternative is not more costly, illegal trade might emerge when demand exceeds the supply of legal products. This is often the case for timber. It would, of course, also arise if demand exists for completely banned products and no legal alternatives exist. This is common in wildlife crime, where major sources of demand include the exotic pet and flower trade. Despite national rules and regulations related to wildlife conservation as well as international commitments, illegal wildlife trade is still continuing in the region as a whole. There is a need for a national level coordination between different governmental and nongovernmental agencies with one agency taking the lead as a focal point. But since there are different wildlife-related rules in different countries, it is difficult to effectively enforce them. This issue will remain as long as there is a demand for such rare wildlife and their products. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) stated that the reason nothing has been done or why it has been taking a very long time to be implemented is the lack of funding. There are only a few officers with insufficient equipment for patrolling the reserves. Illegal hunters and traders often go free because the police do not have adequate funds to detect and investigate the cases properly. With any international agreement such as CITES, penalties and loopholes pose great threats to

the success of conservation especially because of trading. Another problem is the lack of knowledge about wildlife. They have no idea of the implications of this law or its enforcement. For environmental conservation to survive and progress, education is crucial. Despite seeming implausible to achieve, efforts are being put in the battle against illegal wildlife trade, both in implementing force and education methods. First, laws must be adapted and restricted but also fully understood and accepted. Numerous meetings have to be launched to bring the regulation into action. A good establishment of national and international wildlife crime taskforces, combined with the increase in enforcement capacity against wildlife crime, which at the moment remains too loose in ASEAN countries, will contribute to the job of getting rid of wildlife crime. Second is by raising public awareness. Let the public think about the story of Noahs Ark. If God didnt want these animals on Earth, He wouldnt have made one female and one male of each species go on the ark to survive from the great flood. If we dont believe in that story then think about how animals were here long before us. We have no right to kill them. Its not our job to decide what living things should and shouldnt be on Earth. In the future, the overexploitation of the species in a wider way will cause overharvesting of animals and plants. For example, overfishing does not only affect individual fishing communities and threaten certain fish species, but causes imbalance in the whole marine system. As wildlife depends on the existence of a functioning planet Earth, the survival of a species hangs in the balance. Historically, such overexploitation has caused extinctions or severely threatened species and as human populations have expanded, demand for wildlife has only increased. The question, then, should not be solely of our complicity in the illegal wildlife trade. Rather, we should be asking questions about how we can turn the tables, and how we can better use our position as a major player in global trade to combat wildlife trafficking. However, with human's greediness, the biodiversity is suffering from incredible damage that leads to the dying out of wild animals which might, in future, only live in books and nostalgia. Thus we can give a hand to stop illegal wild animal trading to preserve the natural beauty of one of the most wonderful lands in the world.