Tighter regulations are needed to tackle the illegal wildlife trade, environmental experts said at a major conservation congress in Abu Dhabi.
A trade that fuels organised crime and terrorism, while risking the spread of zoonotic disease, came under the spotlight on the opening day of the IUCN World Conservation Congress.
Despite mass disruption on a global scale caused by the Covid-19 pandemic – believed to have been caused by a virus that jumped from animals to humans – there was still a reluctance to enforce existing guidelines on wildlife movement, experts said.
Jamie Reaser, a scientist on the steering committee of the International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade, said there was growing concern about the wider impact of the illegal wildlife trade.
“Following the advent of Covid-19, these concerns have been increasingly directed towards animals moving through the wildlife trade at both national and international scales,” she said. “By taking an interdisciplinary one health approach, the International Alliance seeks to bring members together for information exchange, for project implementation, and for advising national governments.”
The US-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has warned that the global pet trade in wildlife, both legal and illegal, is escalating, with devastating consequences for wildlife, ecosystems and human health.
Vast pet trade with global reach
The WCS said the global terrestrial pet trade is vast, often poorly regulated, and increasingly linked to organised crime, spanning everything from more common pets to endangered species coveted by collectors.
Millions of animals – from cheetahs to parrots, songbirds, turtles and tortoises, snakes, lizards and amphibians, as well as invertebrates such as tarantulas – are traded annually, often illegally and alongside other illicit activities.
The WCS said corruption and weak enforcement in some countries allow animals to be laundered back into markets, masking illegal activity as legal supply while undermining the good conservation efforts of other countries.
Dr Susan Lieberman, vice president of international policy at the Wildlife Conservation Society, said there was an urgent need for tighter control and to dispel the aspiration associated with exotic pets.
“Certainly what we know about pathogen spillover, the pet trade particularly in birds and mammals, needs to be much more tightened,” Dr Lieberman told The National.
“Whether you call it pet trade or private zoos, they are really just collectors. If you look at the cheetah issue, seizures were constantly coming from the Horn of Africa where the cheetahs are critically in danger. No one should have a pet cheetah.
“Any commercial trade is banned, so any cheetahs coming here [to the Gulf] from the Horn of Africa are all illegally detained. It’s a risk to cheetahs in the wild, but it's also a health risk.
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The opening ceremony of the IUCN's World Conservation Congress takes place at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (Adnec). All photos: Victor Besa / The National -
Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, at the congress -
Princess Lalla Hasnaa of Morocco speaking at the event, which aims to raise awareness of pressing environmental challenges and threats to biodiversity -
IUCN President Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak -
Attendees include leaders from government, science, business and indigenous communities -
Surangel S Whipps, President of Palau -
Participants in the opening ceremony. Organisers expect the congress, from October 9-15, to draw 10,000 visitors -
Minister of Climate Change and Environment Dr Amna Al Dahak -
Visitors to the congress have travelled from as far afield as Colombia and Peru -
The UAE has set up a pavilion at the World Conservation Congress -
The Russian pavilion at the event in Abu Dhabi -
Visitors from Kenya and India at the conservation event
“For both reasons people shouldn't have cheetahs as pets.”
According to the latest On the Trail bulletin by Robin des Bois, a French NGO that monitors recorded international wildlife seizures, Russian airport officials recovered a major haul of illegal wildlife in 2023 from the UAE.
In December, a resident of Tatarstan was intercepted as he attempted to smuggle 177 leopard claws and six leopard teeth, with a black-market value estimated at around $16,900.
As leopards have 18 claws, the incident could have resulted in up to 10 leopard deaths.
During the Abu Dhabi congress, which runs until October 15, a key motion on guidelines for the wildlife trade is due to be heard.
Motion 108 calls for the development of IUCN guidelines to strengthen national laws and curb the commercial pet trade in terrestrial wildlife.
While not legally binding, IUCN guidelines carry significant weight with governments and the conservation community, often shaping national and international policies and best practices.
Enforcement measures
The UAE has strengthened its law enforcement against the illegal wildlife trade.
Through initiatives such as Emirates SkyCargo's IEnvA certification and collaboration with customs and police, greater powers have been granted to intercept illegal shipments.
The Emirates has also signed up to the Buckingham Palace Declaration, a landmark agreement committed to shutting down routes exploited by traffickers of illegal wildlife products.
The measure has already seen success.
Since China’s ban on the import and sale of ivory in 2018, there has been a substantial drop in elephant poaching and a decline in public consumption of ivory products. The price of illegal ivory has fallen sharply in countries where it was once prevalent, indicating a drop in demand.
Claire Cayol, a disease ecologist whose research focuses on host – parasite interactions, said the movement of wildlife around the world has already been responsible for serious public health concerns this century.
“The wildlife trade was associated with the Mpox outbreak in 2003 in the USA where the trade of wild rodents ended up spreading pathogens in humans and causing health issues,” she said.
“Salmonellosis is another quite common pathogen that can be transmitted with the trade of reptiles. That's an important, public health issue.
“Ebola is also associated with hunting, trade and consumption of wild animals. It's really a matter of worry for people in close contact with these infected wild animals, but also for the entire world. Focusing on the health risk in migrant trade is a really important topic.”
