The Illegal Wildlife Trade from a Norwegian Outlook: Tendencies in Practices and Law Enforcement

Abstract

The illegal trade in free-born1 animals and products made from their bodies is one of the fastest-growing illegal trades worldwide (e.g. European Commission, 2014). Usually the term ‘wildlife’2 is intended to include plants, but in this chapter my focus is on animals. The so-called ‘wildlife trade’ is repeatedly positioned among the drugs trade, illegal arms trade and human trafficking (e.g. Warchol, 2007; Zimmerman, 2003; South and Wyatt, 2011). The trade in endangered species is regulated under the CITES convention, which Norway signed in 1976. Some 5,000 animal species are now listed as threatened in the CITES appendices (I, II and III), many because of trade, or the combination of loss of habitat and trade (WWF, 2014a; Reid, 1992). The convention provides a framework that is to be respected by each party, which have to adopt their own domestic legislation to ensure that CITES is implemented at national level.3 There are now 180 member parties. It is important to note that trade in free-born animals (or CITES-listed animals bred in captivity) is not criminalized per se; rather, the regulation through CITES implies that individuals of most species may legally be subject to abduction, trafficking and/or killing, while individuals of other species are protected depending on their degree of endangerment (Sollund, 2011).