What Is the Role of Lawyers and Law Students in Preventing the Illegal Trade in Ivory and Rhino Horn?

Abstract

International wildlife trade is a growing industry. Whether for charismatic megafauna like African elephants and white rhinos or little known creatures such as pangolins, wildlife trade is booming. The United Nations estimates the value of illegal wildlife trade, including illegal timber and fish trade, at more than USD 100 billion globally. The price of rhino horn can be as high as USD 66,139 per kilogram. This booming business is devastating to wildlife. In 2013, as many as 50,000 African elephants were killed―one every 10 to fifteen minutes―and more than 1,000 white rhinos were poached in South Africa alone. Wildlife trafficking is not only deadly for wildlife but it is also deadly for those on the front lines of wildlife enforcement, with at least 1,000 park rangers have been killed in the last decade. Traditional Asian medicine, a lack of political will, and extreme poverty are all driving this trade. The involvement in this trade of organized crime, heavily funded and heavily armed, significantly hinders efforts to solve these problems. Yet, governments, non-governmental organizations, and citizens around the world are taking action to prevent the continuing destruction of species adversely affected by trade and exploitation for commercial purposes. They are working to reduce demand (for example, by destroying stockpiles), strengthen law enforcement efforts, dedicate more funds for conservation, and increase political will. Lawyers, law students, and law professors are among those working to help reduce wildlife trafficking. For example, the International Environmental Law Project (IELP), a legal clinic at Lewis & Clark Law School, has used a unique law in the United States known as the “Pelly Amendment” to request the United States government to impose trade sanctions against Vietnam for Vietnam’s failure to effectively enforce the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) with respect to rhino horn trade. IELP is also working to strengthen wildlife laws in countries around the world, because those laws often include such low penalties for violations of the law that they fail to deter wildlife crime. IELP also helps draft new rules for improving the effectiveness of CITES and prepares documents to help educate delegates about CITES and specific issues to be discussed at CITES meetings. As a result of these activities, students who receive training while in law school are strategically placed to get jobs in this field. In addition, by receiving training in international wildlife law, not only is a new generation of individuals being sensitized to the harm caused by wildlife trafficking, but the next generation of international environmental lawyers is being created. That, hopefully, will improve the prospects for wildlife everywhere.