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These criminal networks, operating through sophisticated chains
of intermediaries, steal the heritage and the natural resources of
countries and communities working towards sustainable devel-
opment, jeopardizing existing successes in the achievement of
the Millennium Development Goals and undermining the tran-
sition towards resource-efficient Green Economies.
UNEP, working with partners such as INTERPOL and operat-
ing under agreements like the UNEP-hosted Convention on
the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
and Flora (CITES) and the UNEP/UNESCO Great Apes Sur-
vival Partnership (GRASP), is attempting to bring attention to
the issue, build awareness at the political and public levels and
catalyze a response.
This report focuses on the trade of great apes – bonobos, chim-
panzees, gorillas and orangutans. The trafficking of these ani-
mals adds additional and unwelcome pressures on the already
endangered species, which in many of their range States, at-
tract tourism and thus contribute to the local economy.
The trafficking of great apes is not new – it has gone on for
well over a century. But the current scale of trafficking out-
lined in this report underlines how important it is that the in-
ternational community and the organizations responsible for
conserving endangered species remain vigilant, keeping a step
ahead of those seeking to profit from illegal activities.
The illegal trade in great apes mirrors the recent spike in ele
phant and rhino poaching, as well as the rise in illegal log-
ging. UNEP and INTERPOL recently launched a report show-
ing that between 50 and 90 per cent of the logging taking
place in key tropical countries of the Amazon Basin, Central
Africa and Southeast Asia is being carried out by organized
crime, threatening not only local species – including many
great apes where they occur – but also jeopardizing efforts to
combat climate change through initiatives such as the United
Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions
from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing
Countries (UN-REDD)
In a world where natural resources are increasingly scarce,
addressing illegal activities on the ground and across sup-
ply chains is increasingly challenging. However, such action
should be also an opportunity to improve cooperation between
nations and ensure a more sustainable planet.
Achim Steiner
UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director
PREFACE
The illegal trade in wildlife makes up one part of the multi-billion dollar business that
is environmental crime and is increasingly being perpetrated at the cost of the poor
and vulnerable.
The trafficking of great apes adds
additional and unwelcome pressures
on charismatic fauna that provide
an impetus for tourism and
thus revenues to the economy.