International Wildlife Trafficking Threats to Conservation and National Security

There is a major slaughter going on across the African subcontinent. If we had looked at the numbers a several years ago we would have found that between 1990 and 2005, South Africa lost 14 rhinos a year. In 2013, there were thousands slaughtered. If we look at elephants, in 2011, 17,000 elephants were killed in sub-Saharan Africa illegally. The following year 30,000 elephants were killed. We are at a pivotal moment in the conservation movement with an alarming and unprecedented dramatic increase in the slaughter of wildlife. How can this be? National parks across Africa are the battlefield in which these species are being slaughtered. Organized crime, and increasingly rebel groups and terrorist organizations like al-Shabaab are using new weaponry that these animals have not been up against in the past. Driving the slaughter is the value. The value of rhino horn right now is $60,000 per kilo. That is more than platinum and cocaine. The cost of ivory is $1,000 per kilogram. Trafficking is now among the most lucrative criminal activities worldwide, generating $8 to $10 billion per year.