Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: Poaching and the illicit trade in endangered and threatened wildlife are among the most lucrative criminal activities worldwide, worth an estimated $7 to $10 billion annually. Poaching and wildlife trafficking have escalated in scale, sophistication and violence, risking the potential extinction of some of the world’s most iconic species. Wildlife poaching and trafficking threaten elephants, rhinoceros, and tigers greatly, but also have devastating impact on a number of other species, including sharks, great apes, and turtles.
Researchers conservatively estimate that some 22,000 African elephants were poached in 2012 alone, leaving the current population of elephants around 400,000, down from approximately 1.3 million in 1979. An average of 14 rhinos were killed annually by poachers in South Africa between 1990 and 2005, but more than 1,200 rhinos were poached in South Africa alone in 2014. Fewer than 3,200 tigers remain in the wild and these remaining wild tigers are under heavy threat of poaching for their skins, bones and other body parts.
The high demand for rare wildlife products has driven prices to historically high levels. Much of the demand for wildlife products comes from Asia and is fueled by the perceived medicinal value and social status associated with these products. Reporting indicates that a number of rebel groups and terrorist organizations, including Sudan’s Janjaweed militia, the Lord’s Resistance Army, the Seleka rebel movement in the Central African Republic, and Somalia’s al-Shabaab, either participate in or draw funding from illicit wildlife trafficking networks.
Analyses suggest the high demand for illegal wildlife products, combined with weak law enforcement and security measures and corruption and governance failures, has led to the increased involvement of transnational organized crime in wildlife trafficking. The United Nations Security Council has authorized multilateral sanctions against individuals and entities supporting armed groups through the illicit trade in wildlife, in addition to other natural resources, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.
A National Intelligence Council analysis of wildlife poaching threats found that certain African government officials facilitated the movement of wildlife products, and that these governments’ ability to reduce poaching and trafficking was hindered by corruption and weak rule of law. On November 13, 2013, the Secretary of State announced the first reward under the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program for information leading to the dismantling of the Xaysavang Network, a large wildlife trafficking syndicate that is based in Laos and spans Africa and Asia.
On July 1, 2013, the President issued Executive Order 13648 on combating wildlife trafficking, establishing a Presidential Task Force which was responsible for producing a national strategy to combat wildlife trafficking. On February 13, 2014, more than 40 countries, including the United States, European Union, and countries from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, participated in the London Conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade and committed to a declaration which recognized the significant scale and detrimental economic, social and environmental consequences of the illegal trade in wildlife.
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