Illegal wildlife trade needs to be penalised: FATF

Written by Esha Roy | New Delhi |

Updated: June 26, 2020 4:43:11 am

The report, released on Thursday, comes amid increasing international concern that the crime could lead to more zoonotic diseases in the future. (File Photo)

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) released its first-ever report on illegal wildlife trade (IWT) on Thursday. FATF is an independent inter-governmental body that develops and promotes policies to protect the global financial system against money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The report comes amid increasing international concern that the crime could lead to more zoonotic diseases in the future. Estimating the proceeds of IWT to be between $7 and $23 billion per year globally, the FATF has suggested to all member governments that the financial aspect of wildlife trade needs to be looked at more carefully, and that money laundering laws should be applied to wildlife trade since the proceeds enters the global market through money laundering.

“The illegal wildlife trade is devastating our wildlife and putting the global ecosystem at risk. Time is running out. To ensure the survival of endangered species, we need to build strong public-private partnerships to prevent, detect and disrupt this activity, following the money that fuels it and the organised crime gangs, poachers and traffickers behind it,” said FATF president Xiangmin Liu.

“The illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a major transnational organised crime that fuels corruption, threats biodiversity, and can have significant public health impacts. In particular, the spread in recent years of zoonotic diseases underlines the importance of ensuring that wildlife is traded in a legal, safe and sustainable manner, and that countries remove the profitability of illegal markets,” states the report.

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