Ending Wildlife Trafficking Will Help The Fight against Terrorism

Apr 8, 2017 | Emma O’Malley
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Illegal wildlife trafficking is one of the lowest profile illegal activities, but is in fact the fourth-largest transnational crime in the world, averaging between $7.8-10 billion in sales per year. However, unlike other major transnational crimes such as human, arms, and drug trafficking, efforts to combat wildlife trafficking have been neglected by the United States. Since funds from the lucrative illegal wildlife trade often end up in the hands of terrorist organizations, eliminating wildlife trafficking should be a primary US national security goal, rather than a secondary objective.

A number of terrorist organizations in Africa are involved in wildlife trafficking, enhancing the security threat they pose to local, US-supported, African military and police forces, as well as to US entities in Africa. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan terrorist group led by Joseph Kony, frequents the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Garamba National Park. LRA fighters use this base to harvest ivory from the diminishing number of elephants that live there. Somali Islamist extremist group al Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate, receives up to 40 percent of its funding from illegal ivory trade, amounting to about $200,000-$600,000 per month, depending upon how much ivory the group can harvest. Nigerian militant group Boko Haram has also reportedly been involved in the illegal wildlife trade. In many cases, members of these groups will trade animal products for weapons to bolster their forces. They face little opposition from authorities, many of whom engage in corruption and receive bribes. In some areas, park rangers are also conspirators to the illegal trade by offering special access routes and animal tracking to poachers.

It is crucial for the United States to establish stronger partnerships with governments and NGOs, at both the national and local level, in order to put an end to wildlife trafficking. Through stronger partnerships and prioritization of anti-wildlife trafficking efforts, the United States will have a more active role in stopping patterns of corruption that soften current anti-poaching efforts.