New United for Wildlife Taskforce Alerts
ALERT: Rhino trafficking in India, with the collusion of park officials
Employees of Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India, and local politicians are allegedly involved in the trafficking of rhino horn. Authorities suspect some poaching gangs operating in the park are closely tied to insurgent groups.
Full alert here
ALERT: Timber trafficking and tax evasion by Chinese companies in Namibia
Since 2017 Chinese-fronted companies, likely enabled by corrupt officials and under political cover, have illegally logged land in Namibia’s Caprvi Strip and Kavango East and West, and evaded millions of dollars in taxes.
Full alert here
ALERT: Biosecurity threats posed by donkey skin trafficking
From rural source locations to urban markets, donkeys spread diseases to human handlers and to other animals, threatening human health and livelihoods and equine populations.
Full alert here
ALERT: Brussels' status as a major hub for bushmeat
Bushmeat networks from West Africa import 44.4 tonnes of bushmeat annually through Brussels Airport, increasing the risks of monkeypox and other zoonotic diseases for airport employees, traffickers, and consumers.
Full alert here
ALERT: Live primate trafficking from central Africa to Chinese zoos
Live animal trafficking networks smuggle rare and endangered species, including CITES Appendix I species, from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to South Africa where they are laundered through animal breeders and re-exported to China on falsified and fraudulent permits.
Full alert here
ALERT: Shark fin traffickers from South America utilize corruption to send their goods to Asia (includes a detailed graphic of the actors in the case covered in the alert).
A loose network of importers and exporters in Peru is accused of bribing public officials to ship hundreds of tons of protected, illegally harvested shark fins to Hong Kong and China within ‘legal’ shipments.
Full alert here
Infographic
These mark the last alerts being produced by the Basel Institute as the Information Sharing System is being transferred to Focused Conservation as of February 1.
We at the Basel Institute thank all the Taskforce members for your cooperation and support over the last two years. It has been a fascinating journey to see United for Wildlife’s Taskforces develop at such rapid speed (undiminished by the pandemic!) from the front lines. We’d also like to thank the Duke of Cambridge, Lord Hague, David Fein, Pim Gregory and of course Rob Campbell for their tireless dedication to the cause of eradicating the Illegal Wildlife Trade and for TRF’s co-funding of the ISS.
We wish United for Wildlife all the best in the onward journey. As we remain ourselves a member of the Initiative, we look forward to contributing as part of our new focus on Green Corruption, which applies our institution’s anti-corruption expertise to a wide set of environmental crimes, including IWT. If you would like to stay in touch, please reach out to me at any time, check out the updates on our website or subscribe to the Green Corruption mailing list.
With best regards,
Juhani and the team at the Basel Institute on Governance.
Juhani Grossmann
Team Leader, Green Corruption programme
Basel Institute on Governance
Steinenring 60
4051 Basel
Tel: + 41 (0)61 205 55 30
Mobile/wa: +41 (0)79 761 8298
Fax: + 41 (0)61 205 55 19
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