Illegal wildlife trade 'threatening national security', says WWF

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/dec/12/wildlife-trafficking-national-security-wwf

Illicit trade in wildlife has exploded into a $19bn criminal enterprise, threatening government stability and national security, the WWF warned on Wednesday.

A report from the world's biggest conservation group said the current effort to stop trafficking in ivory, rhino horn, and other endangered species was pitifully inadequate against the powerful and sophisticated crime syndicates with a global reach.

"It has been a failure. We are losing these populations in front of our eyes," Carter Roberts, the president of WWF, said in an interview. "It is being outgunned in terms of technology. It is being outgunned in terms of resources, and it is being outgunned, worst of all, in terms of organisation."

The report, compiled by the Dalberg consulting firm, was based on interviews with government officials in countries on both sides of the smuggling chain in Africa and Asia.

[stuntcat]

1. this is Humanity

k & r for pride in my species