46 / 80
46
Looking at seizures of 800 kg or more that were made in 2009,
2010 and 2011, there were 8, 9 and 17 such seizures, respectively,
in those years, totaling nearly 61 tonnes of ivory. The increasing
pattern of large movements of ivory represents the involvement of
international criminal syndicates in the trade operating through
sophisticated networks that link Africa with Asia. To address this
growing trend, increased law enforcement efforts and internation-
al cooperation is a prerequisite. For this reason, investigation of
large-scale ivory seizures should be recognized as the single most
important ivory trade crime for urgent follow-up attention.
Unfortunately, it is rare for investigations following large-scale
ivory seizures to be made, and when they are, they are generally
ineffective. As a result the entire crime chain is rarely addressed
and arrests, prosecutions and convictions of the criminals in-
volved rarely happen. The entire enforcement chain must work
together. There is a need for better communication, collabora-
tion and coordination on these cases at the national and interna-
tional levels. Using controlled delivery techniques and wildlife
forensic technology, as well as the prompt exchange of relevant
information to facilitate investigations in all implicated coun-
tries is of paramount importance. This should be followed by
successful prosecutions and effective deterrent penalties. The
International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (IC-
CWC) can play an important role in this regard. ICCWC brings
together the intergovernmental bodies that have a mandate
from their member States to engage in or support wildlife law
enforcement, to ensure a well coordinated law enforcement re-
sponse to combat illegal wildlife trade. Each ICWWC partner
agency bring its unique skills and resources to the Consortium
and deals with a different part of the system, which all need
to work together to secure successful enforcement action. Un-
less a mechanism for broad collaboration is funded and imple-
mented, the illegal trade in ivory will continue, resulting in the
subsequent local eradications of elephants in parts of Africa.
Departure points and destinations
The two countries most heavily implicated as destinations for
illicit trade in ivory are China and Thailand. In terms of trade
routes and transit countries or territories through which large
quantities of ivory are flowing from Africa to Asian consumers,
Hong Kong SAR, Malaysia, the Philippines and Viet Nam are
the paramount countries and territories of concern. Moving to
source countries and exit points for large amounts of ivory leaving
Figure 13:
Large-scale ivory shipments originating from Africa
have almost exclusively been seized in containers at major ports
in Asia, where there is an established customs inspection sys-
tems. Shipments have mainly originated from not only Dar es
Salaam or Mombasa, but also West Africa.