The Critical Role AFC Professionals Can Play in Sustainable Development

Michael Wick/shutterstock.com

In 1900, a group of European colonial powers signed the world’s first multilateral treaty on wildlife preservation at the Convention for the Preservation of Wild Animals, Birds and Fish in Africa.¹ Numerous treaties, protocols and agreements have been signed in the last century. While every treaty aims to honor the fundamental international law principle of pacta sunt servanda (agreements must be kept), our collective efforts to combat wildlife crime have proven to be largely ineffective.

The United Nations (UN) has called on the global community to collectively prioritize sustainable development goals target 12 (ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns), target 15 (protecting terrestrial ecosystems and halting biodiversity loss) and target 17 (promoting prosperity while protecting the planet) to take significant strides toward ending wildlife trafficking while fostering a more sustainable future for both people and the planet.

The Current Landscape

The global wildlife trade is a vast, multibillion-dollar industry, with Western countries playing a significant role as transit and destination countries. As per trade data compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, over the past two decades the U.S. has imported approximately 2.9 billion animals from nearly 30,000 species.² While there are no national databases like the Law Enforcement Management Information System in most importing countries, numerous studies indicate that unregulated trade of endangered species has gone rampant in many parts of the world including Australia,³ North America⁴ and Europe.⁵

Many species targeted by illegal trade and impacted by habitat loss are now at risk of extinction. Iconic animals such as elephants and rhinos face dire survival challenges due to wildlife trafficking.⁶

Graphic 1: Rhino Poaching in Africa

Source: International Rhino Foundation⁷

“The 586 rhinos lost in 2023 represent about 2.5% of the African rhino population that year, or one rhino killed every 15 hours,” according to the International Rhino Foundation.⁸ Graphic 1 above illustrates the number of rhinos poached throughout Africa between 2006 and June of 2024.

Social and Cultural Values

Improved economic conditions in markets such as China and other parts of East and Southeast Asia are fueling an increased demand for rhino horn, elephant ivory and other wildlife products that are considered to be a powerful traditional medicine used to treat a variety of ailments. While there is little or no scientific evidence to support these claims, the dramatic rise in poaching to satisfy this demand is pushing rhinos toward the brink of extinction.

Asian medicines tend to contain animal products such as tiger, leopard, rhino, etc.
Source: Edward Parker/WWF⁹

Luxury Fashion

Although the primary markets are based in Asia, the West continues to play a role as a consumer of illegally traded wildlife and must be a part of the solution.¹⁰

A western consumer, for instance, may be unwittingly exposed to illegal trade of endangered species. An online investigation led by the Associated Press identified more than 30 retailers selling elephant leather products in the U.S.—mainly exotic boots. Their ads promote virility—“Just a hard-working, tough as nails, pair of American made cowboy boots.”¹¹ Many fashion conglomerates claim to source fur, feathers and skins from factory farms that raise exotic species and legally trade captive-bred endangered species that are illegal to source from the wild. However, the absence of strong regulatory measures and standardized compliance practices allow for illegally obtained skins to be passed off as legal.¹²

Exotic Pets

An estimated 20,000 big cats (such as lions, tigers and cougars) are privately owned across the U.S. Many are acquired as cubs for entertainment and flaunted by their owners in photo ops. However, once they grow too large to handle, these animals frequently end up in the exotic pet trade, illegal wildlife markets or overwhelmed sanctuaries struggling with limited resources. Many live in cramped, unsuitable environments, leading to health issues and aggressive behavior. Tragically, there have been multiple human injuries and fatalities due to encounters with captive big cats.¹³

Intersectionality of Organized Crimes

Traffickers operate through sophisticated networks, exploiting weak governance and corrupt officials to transport ivory and rhino horns from remote areas to markets and ports. These smuggling networks frequently overlap with those trafficking other illegal commodities, such as drugs and weapons, further compounding regional instability.¹⁴ Wildlife crimes often intersect with other offenses such as drug trafficking, human trafficking, deforestation, money laundering and corruption at the highest level. We may be unwittingly enriching transnational criminals by demanding goods sourced from illegal trade of wildlife and forestry. Here is how anti-financial crime (AFC) professionals could become a part of the solution:

Study supply chains. You might be consuming goods such as belts, wallets, boots and purses made with leather sourced from poached snakes, lizards, alligators, crocodiles and other reptiles.¹⁵
Review Forest Stewardship Council¹⁶ certifications when buying wood products. You may be buying products made with endangered forestry materials such as rosewood or timber. Other biotrade certifications to look for are the Union for Ethical Biotrade¹⁷ and the Wildlife Friendly Enterprise Network.¹⁸
Say no to exotic pets. You may be unwittingly buying reptiles or amphibians at the brink of extinction.¹⁹
Be a conscious tourist. You may be patronizing a zoo or sanctuary with a history of neglecting or abusing animals.²⁰
Call for a ban on trophy hunting. Online images of trophy hunters reveal hunting violations, including non-permitted hunting of female leopards and illegal hounding.²¹ Hunting sports may be exacerbating related predicate crimes such as trafficking in persons. For instance, Southeast Asian sex workers have reportedly been used as proxy hunters to smuggle trophy hunting products from African countries with legalized trophy hunting provisions to Asia.²²
Support capacity-building projects in exporting countries. Material and training, as well as legal and diplomatic support could have “a significant impact on the trajectory of the illicit rhino horn and ivory trades” and would also represent a relatively cost-effective way to gain new insights into the behavior of implicated criminal groups and associated trafficking networks.²³
Contribute to investigative journalism. Leverage your open-source investigation skills to bolster investigations or financially support nonprofits focused on dismantling wildlife crime syndicates such as the Environmental Investigation Agency²⁴ and Earth League International²⁵

Source: Image from author conducting an open-source investigation on Telegram

Image from author conducting an open-source investigation on Facebook

Graphic 2: Example of Illegal Wildlife Trade Supply Chain and Payments

Source and visualization by: Financial Action Task Force²⁶

Moral Equivocation in Wildlife Trafficking Deterrence

Wildlife trafficking is a global crisis with devastating ecological, economic and ethical consequences (as shown in Graphic 2 above). Yet, efforts to combat it often suffer from moral equivocation: a reluctance to take clear, uncompromising stances against trafficking due to social, economic, cultural or political considerations. This hesitation undermines enforcement, perpetuates demand and threatens endangered species already on the brink of extinction. This is why AFC professionals should take a personal stance against this crime, make conscious consumer choices and contribute to UN Sustainable Development Goals target 12 (ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns), target 15 (protecting terrestrial ecosystems and halting biodiversity loss) and target 17 (promoting prosperity while protecting the planet).²⁷

Jinisha Bhatt, CAMS, founder, Canada Anti-Human Trafficking Consortium, independent compliance consultant, connect@fighthumantrafficking.ca,