The Evolving War on Illegal Wildlife Trade

The document analyzes the scale of illegal wildlife trade, which is estimated to be worth between USD 7 and USD 23 billion annually. It evaluates CITES as the primary legal framework for regulating international trade in endangered species, noting that while it has evolved through partnerships with organizations like UNODC and INTERPOL, it lacks a mandate to criminalize trade or oversee domestic activities. The brief discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the potential link between wildlife trade and zoonoses, and explores proposals for a new treaty focused on 'Wildlife Crime' or 'One Health' to fill existing regulatory gaps.

• Illegal wildlife trade is a highly lucrative global business, estimated to be valued between USD 7 billion and USD 23 billion per year, and is often managed by sophisticated international criminal networks.
• Between 1999 and 2018, there were nearly 180,000 seizures across 149 countries, involving almost 6,000 different species.
• CITES is limited in its ability to combat wildlife crime because it was not designed as a crime-related convention and does not mandate that member countries treat illegal wildlife trade as a criminal offense.
• To address enforcement gaps, CITES has integrated its work with the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), INTERPOL, and the World Customs Organization (WCO), and helped establish the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) in 2010.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked debate over whether CITES should be amended to include species that pose public health threats or if a new 'One Health' treaty is required to manage the relationship between wildlife trade and zoonotic diseases.
• Advocates for a new wildlife crime convention argue that CITES is overstretched and that a legally binding regime based on international criminal law, rather than trade law, is necessary to address corruption and non-listed species.

APA

Rosen,, T. (2020). The Evolving War on Illegal Wildlife Trade. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/evolving-war-illegal-wildlife-trade

Chicago

Rosen,, Tanya. The Evolving War on Illegal Wildlife Trade. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2020. https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/evolving-war-illegal-wildlife-trade.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rosen, |first1=Tanya |title=The Evolving War on Illegal Wildlife Trade |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=6 October 2020 |url=https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/evolving-war-illegal-wildlife-trade |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rosen2020evolving, author = {Rosen,, Tanya}, title = {{The Evolving War on Illegal Wildlife Trade}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2020}, month = oct, url = {https://www.iisd.org/articles/deep-dive/evolving-war-illegal-wildlife-trade}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }