International Illegal Trade in Wildlife

International Illegal Trade in Wildlife

Volumn , Issue , 2008, Pages 1-77

  Wyler, Liana Sun ^a   Sheikh, Pervaze A ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 77949542238     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
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References (200)

1. 16 U.S.C. §701, as amended.
2. Lacey Act Amendments of 1981 (P.L. 97-79, as amended); Endangered Species Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-205, as amended).
3. Congress implemented CITES under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. P.L. 96-159 designates the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), as both the CITES Management and Scientific Authority. See CRS Report RL32751, The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES): Background and Issues, by Pervaze A. Sheikh and M. Lynne Corn.
4. Attempts to quantify the value of illegal wildlife trade have resulted in many estimates that vary in size and scope. For a range of estimates on the size of the illegal wildlife trade see U.S. Interagency Working Group, International Crime Threat Assessment Report (December 2000)
5. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Oceans and International Environment and Scientific Affairs, "Announcing the Formation of the Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking," September 22, 2005
6. United Kingdom National Wildlife Crime Unit, "Wildlife Crime," at http://www.nwcu.police.uk/pages/wildlifecrime/crime.asp]; and Interpol, "Wildlife Crime," at http://www.interpol.int/Public/ EnvironmentalCrime/Wildlife/Default.asp].
7. U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), "ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network," undated brochure, at http://usaid.eco-asia.org/files/fact_sheets/ASEAN_WEN .pdf].
8. CITES covers approximately 5,000 species of animals and 28,000 species of plants.
9. Duncan Brack, "Combating International Environmental Crime," Global Environmental Change, vol. 12, no. 2 (July 2002), pp. 143-147.
10. Jolene Lin, "Tackling Southeast Asia's Illegal Wildlife Trade," Singapore Year Book of International Law and Contributors, vol. 9 (2005), pp. 191-208.
11. Richard T. Corlett, "The Impact of Hunting on the Mammalian Fauna of Tropical Asian Forests," Biotropica, vol. 39, no. 3 (2007), pp. 292-303.
12. Maylynn Engler and Rob Perry-Jones, Opportunity or Threat: The Role of the European Union in the Global Wildlife Trade (Brussels, Belgium: TRAFFIC Europe, 2007).
13. Randi Alacron, "The Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species: The Difficulty in Enforcing CITES and the United States Solution to Hindering the Trade in Endangered Species," N.Y. International Law Review, vol. 14, no. 2 (2001), pp. 105-108.
14. U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Office of Law Enforcement, Annual Reports, FY2000-FY2006, at http://www.fws.gov/le/AboutLE/ annual.htm]; and personal communication with FWS officials, February 20, 2008. Figures are in constant FY2008 U.S. dollars.
15. This analysis is based on the types and quantities of wildlife shipments refused entry at the U.S. border. Although the data may reflect the categories of illegal wildlife in demand by consumers, the data may not accurately reflect the full magnitude of the illegal trade in the United States. See U.S. Department of the Interior, FWS, Office of Law Enforcement, Intelligence Unit, U.S. Illegal Wildlife Trade: LEMIS Data Analysis and Risk Assessment, November 2005.
16. U.S. Department of the Interior, FWS, Office of Law Enforcement, Strategic Plan, 2006-2010, at http://www.fws.gov/le/AboutLE/OL EStrategicPlanDec2005.pdf].
17. Richard Ellis, Tiger Bone and Rhino Horn: The Destruction of Wildlife for Traditional Chinese Medicine (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2005).
18. Dee Cook, Martin Roberts, and Jason Lowther, The International Wildlife Trade and Organised Crime: A Review of the Evidence and the Role of the UK (United Kingdom: World Wildlife Fund, 2002), p. 18.
19. FWS, U.S. Illegal Wildlife Trade: LEMIS Data Analysis and Risk Assessment.
20. Gavin Hayman and Duncan Brack, "International Environmental Crime: The Nature and Control of Environmental Black Markets," The Royal Institute of International Affairs (2002), p. 114. See also Cook, Roberts, and Lowther, The International Wildlife Trade and Organised Crime, p. 10.
21. See, for example, Emily Wax, "Poaching and Population Threatens India's Tigers," Washington Post, October 16, 2007.
22. Hayman and Brack, "International Environmental Crime," p. 144.
23. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General, "Progress Made in the Implementation of Economic and Social Council Resolution 2001/12 on Illicit Trafficking in Protected Species of Wild Flora and Fauna," U.N. Economic and Social Council, Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, 11th session, Vienna, Austria, February 26, 2002, p. 6
24. Report of the U.N. Secretary- General, "Illicit Trafficking in Protected Species of Wild Flora and Fauna and Illicit Access to Genetic Resources," U.N. Economic and Social Council, Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, 12th session, Vienna, Austria, March 4, 2003, p. 9.
25. See, for example, Greg Warchol, Linda Zupan, and Willie Clack, "Transnational Criminality: An Analysis of the Illegal Wildlife Market in Southern Africa," International Criminal Justice Review, vol. 13, no. 1 (2003), p. 7
26. Lin, "Tackling Southeast Asia's Illegal Wildlife Trade," p. 198
27. Hayman and Brack, "International Environmental Crime.".
28. Warchol, Zupan, and Clack, ibid, p. 24
29. Hayman and Brack, "International Environmental Crime," p. 7.
30. See, for example, Warchol, Zupan, and Clack, ibid.
31. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2003), p. 10; and U.S. Interagency Working Group, International Crime Threat Assessment.
32. FWS, Office of Law Enforcement, Strategic Plan, 2006-2010, p. 7.
33. Cook, Roberts, and Lowther, The International Wildlife Trade and Organised Crime, pp. 19-20
34. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2002), pp. 5-6.
35. International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), "Caught in the Web: Wildlife Trade on the Internet," 2005, at http://www. ifaw.org/ifaw/dfiles/file_562.pdf].
36. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN), African Elephant Status Report 2007: An Update from the African Elephant Database, Occasional Paper Series of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, no. 33 (2007). According to the IUCN, primary reasons for the elephant population's decline include habitat loss and fragmentation, humanelephant conflict, and poaching for elephant meat and ivory. International trade in Asian elephant ivory is also illegal under CITES.
37. Under CITES, ivory from southern African elephants from Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa is allowed to be traded. Most recently, in 2007, CITES approved a second auction of 60 tons of government-stockpiled elephant ivory from Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa; CITES has yet to decide when this second auction will take place and to which countries it will be sold.
38. "CITES Permits 60 Tons of Elephant Ivory to Be Sold," Environmental News Service, June 4, 2007.
39. The price of ivory may vary significantly, depending on its size, quality, and type. Additionally, experts highlight distinctions between forest elephant tusks and savannah elephant tusks; the forest elephant tusk is known to be more desirable for its pinkish hue and density, which makes it preferable for carving. See, for example, Esmond Martin and Daniel Stiles, "U.S. Exposed as Leading Ivory Market," Report prepared for Care for the Wild International, June 5, 2007.
40. TRAFFIC, "Monitoring of Illegal Trade in Ivory and Other Elephant Specimens," Fourteenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties, June 3, 2007, at http://www.cites.org/ eng/cop/14/doc/E14- 53-2.pdf]. The study reports that the number of "big seizures," defined as seizures involving more than 1 metric ton of ivory, grew from 17, between 1989 through 1997, to 32, between 1998 through 2006. In 2002, Singapore officials confiscated a single shipment of more than 6 tons of illicit ivory - the largest seizure since the 1989 ban.
41. According to IUCN, the distribution of African elephants vary across western, central, southern, and eastern Africa. Southern Africa accounts for approximately 39% of the total species' known population, Central Africa accounts for 29%, East Africa accounts for 26%, and West Africa accounts for 5%. The accuracy of the population estimates also varies across the continent, with estimates in conflict zones or countries emerging from conflict being especially limited. See Nigel Hunter, Esmond Martin, and Tom Milliken, "Determining The Number of Elephants Required to Supply Current Unregulated Ivory Markets in Africa and Asia," Pachyderm, no. 36 (January-June 2004), pp. 116-128; and IUCN, African Elephant Status Report 2007.
42. TRAFFIC, "Monitoring of Illegal Trade in Ivory and Other Elephant Specimens." Thailand is also a heavily-implicated elephant ivory trading country, but some of its ivory trade includes Asian elephant ivory as well.
43. See, for example, "Sudan is 'Centre of Ivory Trade,'" BBC News, March 14, 2005
44. Esmond Martin, "Large Quantities of Illegal Ivory for Sale in Sudan," Report for Care for the Wild International, March 14, 2005. Some 75% of the ivory is reportedly bought by Chinese customers, many of whom are working in Sudan in the oil industry.
45. Martin, "Large Quantities of Illegal Ivory for Sale in Sudan" and "Illegal Ivory Seized in Taiwan," World Wildlife Fund, July 7, 2006; also based on CRS discussions with Interpol law enforcement officials familiar with the case in 2007.
46. Samuel Wasser et al., "Using DNA to Track the Origin of the Largest Ivory Seizure Since the 1989 Trade Ban," Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America vol. 104, no. 10 (March 6, 2007), at http://depts.washington. edu/conserv/web-content/Press/Wasser%20et%20al%202007.pdf].
47. One possible explanation might be that as a species becomes depleted and rare, the costs of finding and harvesting individuals becomes prohibitive; species are likely to become extinct economically before they become extinct biologically.
48. Steven Broad et al., The Nature and Extent of Legal and Illegal Trade in Wildlife.
49. See Evan Bowen-Jones and Stephanie Pendry, "The Threats to Primates and Other Mammals from the Bushmeat Trade in Africa and How This Could Be Diminished," Oryx, vol. 33, no. 3 (1999), pp. 233-247.
50. Ellis, Tiger Bone and Rhino Horn.
51. Martin Schlaepfer et al., "Challenges in Evaluating the Impact of the Trade in Amphibians and Reptiles on Wild Populations," BioScience, vol. 55, no. 3 (2005), pp. 256-264.
52. In some tropical forests in Africa and Asia, for example, the loss of some mammals may slow vegetation recovery because of the dependence on mammals as seed dispersers and pollenators. See Richard T. Corlett, "Frugivory and Seed Dispersal in Degraded Tropical East Asian Landscapes," in D.J. Levey et al., eds., Seed Dispersal and Frugivory: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation (Wallingford, UK: CABI Publishing, 2002), pp. 451-465.
53. For more on harmful non-native species, see CRS Report RL30123, Invasive Non-Native Species: Background and Issues for Congress, by M. Lynne Corn et al.
54. One study estimates the annual economic damage of non-native species in the United States to be approximately $123 billion. See David Pimentel, Lori Lach, Rodolfo Zuniga, and Doug Morrison, "Environmental and Economic Costs of Nonindigenous Species in the United States," BioScience, vol. 50 (January 2000), pp. 53-65.
55. Of 212 non-native vertebrate species that established wild populations in the United States, 48 species (23%) were originally imported as cage birds or other pets. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology and Assessment, Harmful Non-Indigenous Species in the United States, OTA-F-565 (Washington: GPO, 1993).
56. See discussion on the Lacey Act and the injurious species provisions in Appendix 1.
57. David Wilcove et al., "Quantifying Threats to Imperiled Species in the United States," BioScience, vol. 48 (1998), pp. 607-615.
58. Burmese pythons are illegal in some states (e.g., Illinois). In other states, it is illegal to release them into the wild (e.g., Florida, where over 1,000 are estimated to be in the wild). See Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Notice of New Florida Rules and Regulations Concerning Possession of Captive Wildlife, at http://myfwc.com/permits/Docs/SynopsisCaptiveWLRuleChanges.pdf].
59. Defenders of Wildlife, "Broken Screens: The Regulations of Live Animal Imports into the United States," 2007, at http://www.defenders.org/resources/publications/programs_and_ policy/international_conservation/broken_screens/broken_screens_r eport.pdf].
60. FWS, Office of Law Enforcement, Strategic Plan, 2006-2010.
61. U.S. Congress, Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Importation of Exotic Species and their Impact on Public Health and Safety, hearing, 108th Cong., 1st sess., July 17, 2003, at http://epw.senate.gov/hearing_statements.cfm?id=212889].
62. William B. Karesh, "Wildlife Trade and Global Disease Emergence," Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 11, no. 7 (2005), pp. 1000-1002.
63. William B. Karesh et al., "Implications of Wildlife Trade on the Movement of Avian Influenza and other Infectious Diseases," Journal of Wildlife Diseases, vol. 43, no. 3 (2007), pp. 55-59.
64. Peter Daszak, "Risky Behavior in the Ebola Zone," Animal Conservation, vol. 9 (2006), pp. 366-367.
65. U.S. General Accounting Office, "West Nile Virus Outbreak, Lessons for Public Health Preparedness," September 2000, GAO/HEHS-00-180, p. 68.
66. Defenders of Wildlife, "Broken Screens.".
67. S ome examples include a psittacosis infection in custom officers in Belgium after being exposed to illegally imported parakeets, and an avian influenza virus carried by crested hawk eagles smuggled into Europe. Bruno B. Chomel, "Wildlife, Exotic Pets, and Emerging Zoonoses," Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 13, no. 1 (2007), pp. 6-11.
68. Y. Guan et al., "Isolation and Characterization of Viruses Related to the SARS Coronavirus from Animals in Southern China," Science, vol. 302, no. 5643 (2003), pp. 276-278.
69. Center for Food Security and Public Health, Iowa State University, Heartwater, at http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/Factsheets/pdfs/heartwater.pdf].
70. See CRS Report RL33795, Avian Influenza in Poultry and Wild Birds, by Jim Monke and M. Lynne Corn.
71. In response to the outbreak, CDC banned the import of all African rodents into the United States and prohibited the transportation, sale, distribution or release of prairie dogs and African rodents that might have been carrying the disease. For more information on monkeypox, see CRS Report RS21557 Monkeypox: Technical Background and Outbreak Implications for Bioterrorism Preparedness, by Dana A. Shea, Frank Gottron, and Holly Harvey.
72. Center for Non-Proliferation Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies, "Chemical and Biological Weapons Resource Page," at http://cns.miis.edu/research/cbw/p ossess.htm].
73. See CRS Report RS21557, Monkeypox: Technical Background and Outbreak Implications for Bioterrorism Preparedness.
74. See Elizabeth L. Bennett et al., "Hunting for Consensus: Reconciling Bushmeat Harvest, Conservation, and Development Policy in West and Central Africa," Conservation Biology, vol. 21, no. 3 (2006), pp. 884-887.
75. Bushmeat Crisis Taskforce, Global Human Health Fact Sheet, October 2003.
76. Evan Bowen-Jones, "Bushmeat: Traditional Regulation or Adaptation to Market Forces," in Oldfield, ed., The Trade in Wildlife.
77. Zinta Zommers and David Macdonald, Wildlife Trade and Global Disease Emergence, Office of Science and Innovation, Trade and Industry Division, 2006.
78. Emmanuel De Merode and Guy Cowlishaw, "Species Protection, the Changing Informal Economy, and the Politics of Access to the Bushmeat Trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo," Conservation Biology, vol. 20, no. 4 (2006), pp. 1262-1271.
79. Testimony of Marshall Jones, Deputy Director, FWS, in Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Importation of Exotic Species and Their Impact on Public Health and Safety.
80. Declared bushmeat shipments might be checked by FWS at the border, but there is no requirements for quarantine to check bushmeat for disease. FWS inspectors are not trained in disease detection. However, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) may confiscate illegal bushmeat detected at the border, if suspected of carrying disease that might affect livestock. If the bushmeat is suspected carrying a disease harmful to humans, CDC is contacted.
81. Gao Feng et al., "Origin of HIV-1 in the Chimpanzee Pan Troglodytes Troglodytes," Nature, vol. 397 (1999), pp. 436-441.
82. Karesh, "Wildlife Trade and Global Disease Emergence," pp. 1000-1002.
83. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, visited at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/ monkeypox/animals.htm], February 23, 2008.
84. See, for example, Mara Zimmerman, "The Black Market for Wildlife: Combating Transnational Organized Crime in the Illegal Wildlife Trade," Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, vol. 36 (2003), pp. 1672-1673
85. Greg Warchol, "The Transnational Illegal Wildlife Trade," Criminal Justice Studies, vol. 17, no. 1 (March 2004), p. 58.
86. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2002), p. 6
87. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2003), pp. 9-12.
88. See also Jonathan Kazmar, "The International Illegal Plant and Wildlife Trade: Biological Suicide," U.C. Davis Journal of International Law and Policy, vol. 6, no. 105 (Winter 2000).
89. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2003), p. 9.
90. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2002), p. 6
91. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2003) p. 11
92. Kazmar, "The International Illegal Plant and Wildlife Trade" and Cook, Roberts, and Lowther, The International Wildlife Trade and Organised Crime, p. 15.
93. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2002), p. 6
94. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2003), p. 11.
95. FWS, Office of Law Enforcement, Strategic Plan, 2006-2010, p. 7.
96. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2002), p. 6
97. Kazmar, "The International Illegal Plant and Wildlife Trade" and Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2003), p. 12.
98. Cook, Roberts, and Lowther, The International Wildlife Trade and Organised Crime, p.23.
99. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2002), pp. 6-7.
100. "First National Report on the Traffic of Wild Animals," RENCTAS, 2001, p. 53.
101. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2002), pp. 6-7.
102. "Organized Criminal Gangs Deal Wildlife and Drugs," Environment News Service, June 18, 2002.
103. Based on discussions with several Interpol law enforcement officials in 2007.
104. Mark Schoofs, "Traffic Jam: As Meth Trade Goes Global, South Africa Becomes a Hub - Cape Town Gangs Barter Rare Shellfish for Drugs; Chinese, Russian Ties," Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2007.
105. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2002), p. 6.
106. Notably, the map is not indicative of zones where terrorist activity is necessarily occurring and where organized wildlife smugglers are necessarily operating.
107. See Louise I. Shelly and John T. Picarelli, "Methods Not Motives: Implications of the Convergence of International Organized Crime and Terrorism," Policy Practice and Research, vol. 3, no. 4 (2002).
108. See Rohan Gunaratna, Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002).
109. Lin, "Tackling Southeast Asia's Illegal Wildlife Trade.".
110. Somali warlords are generally not considered international terrorists. Interpol officials, however, say wildlife poaching is linked to at least one known Somali warlord, allegedly known to have protected Al Qaeda operatives allegedly involved in the 1998 Kenya and Tanzania U.S. Embassy bombings and the 2002 Kenya hotel bombing. For a description of terrorism activity linked to Somalis, see U.S. Department of State, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Country Report on Terrorism, April 30, 2007.
111. Some Interpol officials speculate that the poached wildlife could be used to finance Somali warlord activities, or possibly even Al Qaeda terrorism activities; CRS has yet to find public evidence to support these speculations. There remains some debate among analysts, however, regarding the level of sufficient evidence linking Somali warlords to the terrorist suspects involved in the bombings described above. For more of this debate, see CRS Report RL33911, Somalia: Current Conditions and Prospects for a Lasting Peace, by Ted Dagne.
112. "Poaching for Bin Laden," The Guardian, May 5, 2007. HUJI-B and JMB are designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the U.S. Department of State.
113. See, for example, R. Thomas Naylor, "The Underworld of Ivory," Crime, Law, and Social Change, vol. 42, no. 4-5 (January 2005), p. 261.
114. Chris R. Shepherd and Vincent Nijman, "The Trade in Bear Parts from Myanmar: An Illustration of the Ineffectiveness of Enforcement of International Wildlife Trade Regulations," Biodiversity Conservation, vol. 17, no. 1 (January 2008), p. 35.
115. "Southeast Asia's Illegal Wildlife Trade," National Public Radio, November 3-5, 2003, at http://www.npr.org/programs/re/archives date/2003/nov/wildlife/index.html].
116. Naylor, "The Underworld of Ivory," pp. 261-277
117. Warchol, "The Transnational Illegal Wildlife Trade," p. 58
118. Warchol, Zupan, and Clack, "Transnational Criminality: An Analysis of the Illegal Wildlife Market in Southern Africa," p. 5
119. John Nielsen, "Confronting Central Africa's Poaching Crisis," National Public Radio, January 12, 2003, at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/ story.php?storyId=912962].
120. See also "DNA Test Pinpoints Elephant Poaching, Aiding Conservation: Genetic Evidence Could Prove Key in Halting the Illegal Slaughter of Africa's Elephants for their Ivory Tusks," Scientific American, February 26, 2007
121. "War and Politics Threaten Congo's Endangered Rhinos," The New York Times, March 28, 2005.
122. In addition to ivory, RENAMO reportedly ran rackets in rhino horn, rare hardwoods, stolen gemstones, and counterfeit currency. See Naylor, "The Underworld of Ivory," p. 278.
123. Most of the posted wildlife inspectors are located at the Los Angeles, New York, New Jersey, and Miami ports of entry. FWS, U.S. Illegal Wildlife Trade: LEMIS Data Analysis and Risk Assessment.
124. FWS, Importing and Exporting Your Commercial Wildlife Shipment, at http://www.fws.gov/le/ImpExp/CommWildlifeImpor tExport.htm].
125. Interview with Tom Tidwell, Senior Special Agent, FWS, November 2007.
126. P.L. 100-478, as amended.
127. Under the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296), some of APHIS' border security responsibilities were transferred to the Department of Homeland Security. These duties include border inspection of shipments and baggage containing plant, animal, and agricultural products that could harbor pests and diseases. APHIS retains the responsibility to create inspection policies and train inspection agents. The specific functions that were transferred from APHIS to DHS are included in an agreement at http://www.aphis.usda. gov/plant_health/moa_dhs/index.shtml].
128. See U.S. Department of Agriculture, APHIS, "Smuggling Intervention and Trade Compliance Program," at http://is.aphis. usda.gov/lpa/pubs/pub_smuggling.html].
129. 16 U.S.C. §§1801-1882, as amended; P.L. 94-265, as amended.
130. CDC has the authority to prevent the spread of communicable diseases under the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. §201 et seq.).
131. For full list of quarantinable diseases, see Executive Order 13295, "Revised List of Quarantinable Communicable Diseases,"April 4, 2003
132. Executive Order: Amendment to E.O. 13295 Relating to Certain Influenza Viruses and Quarantinable Communicable Diseases," April 1, 2005.
133. As of 2004, ENRD employed more than 400 attorneys to handle more than 10,000 cases per year in all federal jurisdictions. Approximately 30 ENRD attorneys specialize in prosecuting environmental crime cases. See Jim Rubin and Shata Stucky, "Fighting Black Markets and Oily Water: The Department of Justice's National Initiatives to Combat Transnational Environmental Crime," Sustainable Development Law and Policy, vol. 4 (2004), pp. 21-26.
134. Because illegal wildlife traffickers are often caught before violating the Lacey Act, conspiracy is a way to charge the wrongdoers for committing a crime. The crime of conspiracy occurs when "two or more persons conspire" to violate the Lacey Act. The conspiracy offense can act as further arsenal against wildlife violators. In fact, charging an individual with conspiracy may be considered a graver offense than the contemplated crime and can lead to harsher penalties.
135. Some address the categories labeled above for violating the Lacey Act as the two steps necessary for prosecution. See Testimony of Eileen Sobeck, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of Justice, in U.S. Congress, House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans, Illegally Harvested Plants, hearing, 110th Cong., 1st sess., October 16, 2007.
136. John T. Webb and Robert S. Anderson, "Prosecuting Wildlife Traffickers: Important Cases, Many Tools, Good Results," United States Attorneys' Bulletin (December 1999), pp. 4-10.
137. For example, see 18 U.S.C. §545.
138. World Health Organization, "Launch of Global Early Warning System for Animal Diseases Transmissible to Humans," Press Release, at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/new/2006/nw02/en/index.html].
139. Hayman and Brack, "International Environmental Crime," p. 22.
140. Report of the U.N. Secretary-General (2003).
141. CITES Notification to the Parties, No. 2003/027 (May 6, 2003); No. 2004/055 (July 30, 2004); No. 2005/038 (July 19, 2005); No. 2006/073 (December 14, 2006); No. 2006/074 (December 14, 2006).
142. Rosalind Reeve, "Wildlife Trade, Sanctions, and Compliance: Lessons from the CITES Regime," International Affairs, vol. 82, no. 5 (2006), pp. 881-897
143. Zimmerman, "The Black Market for Wildlife," p. 1666.
144. Testimony Crawford Allan, World Wildlife Fund, in U.S. Congress, House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Oceans, Endangered Species Treaty Meeting, hearing, 109th Cong., 2nd sess., May 3, 2007.
145. The ten members of ASEAN are Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
146. "ASEAN Statement on Launching of the ASEAN Wildlife Law Enforcement Network at the Special Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers Responsible for the Implementation of CITES," Bangkok, Thailand, December 1, 2005.
147. USAID, "Environmental Cooperation-Asia (ECO-Asia) ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network.".
148. C BP checks a percentage of all shipments and contacts FWS if wildlife shipments are intercepted.
149. FWS proposed on February 25, 2008, to gradually increase inspection fees and update license and fee requirements for importing and exporting wildlife. Fees have not been increased since 1996. Raising fees is intended to recover some costs of inspecting shipments.
150. Alacron, "The Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species.".
151. F WS, Office of Law Enforcement, Strategic Plan, 2006-2010, p. 5.
152. 22 U.S.C. §2431.
153. U SAID, USAID Biodiversity and Forestry Conservation Programs, FY2005, 2007, at http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/environment/biodiversity/pubs/biodiversity_conservation_forestry_2005_508_re ady_102507.pdf].
154. Hayman and Brack, "International Environmental Crime," p. 24
155. FWS, Office of Law Enforcement, Strategic Plan, 2006-2010, p. 5.
156. FWS, Office of Law Enforcement, Strategic Plan, 2006-2010, p. 5.
157. Hayman and Brack, "International Environmental Crime," p. 24.
158. Samuel Wasser et al., "Using DNA to Track the Origin of the Largest Ivory Seizure Since the 1989 Trade Ban.".
159. Hayman and Brack, "International Environmental Crime," p. 32.
160. International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), "Traditional Medicine: A Major Threat That Few Suspect," at http://www.ifaw.org/ifaw/general/default.aspx?oid=180459].
161. Andrew C. Revkin, "Vast Caviar Smuggling Case Brings Guilty Pleas," The New York Times, July 22, 2000.
162. Theodora Greanias, "A Tool of Persuasion: International Wildlife Conservation," Endangered Species Bulletin (July 1998)
163. Andrew F. Upton, "The Big Green Stick: Reducing International Environmental Degradation through U.S. Trade Sanctions," Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review, vol. 22 (1994-1995), pp. 671-692.
164. 22 U.S.C. §1978, as amended.
165. Additionally, this law requires the Secretaries to issue a certification notice to the President when foreign countries are allowing fishing operations to occur that diminish the effectiveness of an international fishery conservation program.
166. T hese countries include (dates of certification in parentheses): Japan (1974, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2000); the former Soviet Union (1974, 1985); Chile (1978); Peru (1978); South Korea (1978); Norway (1986, 1990, 1992, 1993); Taiwan (1989, 1991, 1993); Mexico (1991); Colombia (1992); Canada (1992, 1996); Malaysia (1992); Netherlands Antilles (1992); Singapore (1992); Spain (1992); United Kingdom (1992); Venezuela (1993); Vanuatu (1992); Costa Rica (1992); France (1992); Italy (1992); Panama (1992, 1993); China (1993); and Iceland (2004).
167. "Termination of the Pelly Amendment Certification of Taiwan," Federal Register, vol. 62, no. 83 (April 30, 1997); and Greanias, "A Tool of Persuasion.".
168. Peter H. Sand, "Whither CITES? The Evolution of a Treaty Regime in the Borderland of Trade and Environment," European Journal of International Law, vol. 8 (1997), p. 39.
169. See, for example, Steve Charnovitz, "Environmental Trade Sanctions and the GATT: An Analysis of the Pelly Amendment on Foreign Environmental Practices," American University Journal of International Law and Policy, vol. 9 (1993-1994), pp. 751-807.
170. For a discussion of this, see Scott C. Owen, "Might a Future Tuna Embargo Withstand a WTO Challenge in Light of the Recent Shrimp-Turtle Ruling?," Houston Journal of International Law (Fall 2000).
171. Environmental Investigation Agency, "America's Free Trade for Illegal Timber," 2006.
172. United States-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement, Chapter 18, Environment, at http://www.ustr.gov/Trade_Agreements/Bilateral/Peru_TPA/Final_Texts/Section_Index .html].
173. This annex requires Peru to: (1) increase the number and effectiveness of personnel to enforce laws; (2) provide criminal and civil liability at adequate deterrent levels for actions that undermine the sustainable management of forests and violate laws pertaining to the harvest and trade of timber; (3) verify that timber products are harvested in compliance with all laws; and (4) monitor the timber trade within the country, among other things.
174. "Environmental Education for Afghans Essential, U.S. Officials Say," Armed Forces Press Service, August 15, 2007.
175. Hayman and Brack, "International Environmental Crime," p. 31.
176. 16 U.S.C. §§4201 et seq.; P.L. 100-478, as amended. Congress also enacted another elephant conservation law, the Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997 (16 U.S.C. §§4261-4266; P.L. 105-96, as amended). This law, however, does not include any provisions that restrict the trade in Asian elephant ivory.
177. 39 U.S.C. §3015 note; P.L. 102-393.
178. 7 U.S.C. §8301 et seq.; P.L. 107-171.
179. 7 U.S.C. §§2131 et seq.; P.L. 89-544, as amended.
180. 16 U.S.C. §§2401 et seq.; P.L. 95-541, as amended.
181. 16 U.S.C. §§2431 et seq.; P.L. 98-623.
182. 16 U.S.C. §§668 et seq.; P.L. 86-70, as amended.
183. 19 U.S.C. §1308; P.L. 106-476.
184. 16 U.S.C. §§1531-1544; P.L. 93-205, as amended.
185. 22 U.S.C. §§1971 et seq.; P.L. 90-482, as amended.
186. 22 U.S.C. §1978; P.L. 92-219, as amended.
187. 16 U.S.C. §§1151 et seq.; P.L. 89-702, as amended.
188. 16 U.S.C. §701; 31 Stat. 187, as amended.
189. 16 U.S.C. §§3371 et seq.; P.L. 97-79, as amended.
190. There are currently 26 individual species, genera, or families listed as injurious species.
191. 16 U.S.C. §§1361 et seq.; P.L. 92-522, as amended.
192. 16 U.S.C. §§6601 et seq.; P.L. 108-266.
193. 16 U.S.C. §§703 et seq.; 40 Stat. 755, as amended.
194. 16 U.S.C. §§6101 et seq.; P.L. 106-247, as amended.
195. 42 U.S.C. §264(a); 58 Stat. 703, as amended.
196. A list of embargos on specific species can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dq/ animal.htm].
197. 16 U.S.C. §§5301 et seq.; P.L. 103-391, as amended.
198. 16 U.S.C. §§4901 et seq.; P.L. 102-440.
199. Countries represented at the meeting included the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United Kingdom.
200. U.N. Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, "International Cooperation in Preventing and Combating Illicit International Trafficking in Forest Products, Including Timber, Wildlife and Other Forest Biological Resources," Australia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and United States of America: revised draft resolution, April 25, 2007.