Part of a series on Organized Crime and the Environment, by Raven
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4. PROTECTING BIODIVERSITY

As various pressure threaten thousands of earth's species, organized crime has stepped in to make profits. Elephant ivory has been a prime product for the black markets on several continents, and endangered animals of all kinds are traded illegally. Even the environments of these animals are being hauled away, as seen in the rape of Russian forests, once the haunt of Siberian tigers, - the trees being illegally exported from Russia by organized crime.

"According to Craig Van Note, vice-president of Monitor, an entity that joins together 25 environmental groups, European, Asian and Colombian mafias operate together in the multi- billion dollar animal trade.

The China-based Asian mafia is involved in activities such as selling rhinoceros horns and tiger parts; in Europe the business is in the hands of the Neapolitan camorra; and in Colombia, the animal trade uses the networks of the Cali cartel.

According to a World Wildlife Fund report, the illicit international animal trade produces from $ 2 billion to $ 3 billion in profits a year."
[source: Inter Press Service July 21, 1995]

U.S. Ambassador in Bogota, Myles Frechette, reports according to INTERPOL figures, in the United States alone, the illegal trafficking of animals moves $ 1.2 billion a year in some 90,000 unauthorized shipments. [source: Inter Press Service July 21, 1995] Worldwide, the INTERPOL unit assigned to endangered species estimates the trade "to be in the vicinity of 5 billion dollars per year. It is the largest black market trade after narcotics."

[source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur November 17, 1994 ]

CASES:

ELEPHANT IVORY, CHINA

In December 1994 Chinese authorities announced the arrests of an "organized criminal gang" killing rare elephants for ivory in Yunnan province. Sixteen elephants had been killed and 4 founded. "Criminals involved in these cases included cadres, policemen, employees of enterprises and institutions, farmers, the self-employed and lawless foreign businessmen. They smuggled, resold and hunted elephants to profiteer."
[source: Zhongguo Xinwen She news agency, Beijing, in English 1111 gmt 2 Dec 94, as reported by BBC Summary of World Broadcasts December 6, 1994 ]

ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTIGATION AGENCY

The Environmental Investigation Agency, founded by former Greenpeace member Alan Thornton, has tracked and documents hundreds of cases of criminals killing endangered species for profits, including ivory markets in Dubai, and Korean tiger markets.
[see The People April 30, 1995 ]

ENDANGERED ANIMALS, COLOMBIA

Yadira Ferrer of InterPress reports that "Millions of Colombian animals are smuggled out of the country every year in one of the most profitable illegal businesses in the world, second only to the drug trade....
...In Colombia alone, official figures indicate that an average of 600,000 wild animals are illegally exported from the country each year, at least 200,000 of which are primates headed towards research centers and laboratories."
[source: Inter Press Service July 21, 1995]

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