One of the most important contributors to the current environmental crisis is biodiversity loss. To many, this is not the most visible challenge when it comes to environmental degradation, even though it is at its core. Biodiversity is synonymous with variety and abundance of animals and plants. They are key for ecosystems and for life on Earth. Human beings breathe, eat, enjoy life, get ill, and ultimately exist due to biodiversity. Yet, biodiversity is rarely appreciated, and it is only when zoonosis, floods, draughts, bush fires, illicit trafficking of endangered species and/or the eccentricities of new rich, drug lords, celebrities, royal houses and such harm it, that societies react with indignation and criticism.
The loss of biodiversity is bad news for the world. It implies the number and abundance of plants and animals worldwide are declining to the point societies do not even get to know several animals and/or plants since they are already gone forever. The scientific community insists on the fact that when species get extinct ecosystems sustainability and biodiversity suffer. This is because species interact with each other and when one no longer exists the others experience problems in adapting to their absence.
Sudan, the last male northern white rhino who was euthanized due to degenerative diseases in 2018 leave the two remaining female white rhinos in the world on the verge of extinction. Even though genetic material from Sudan was preserved and several options are being explored to bring back the species, the most important reason for the virtual extinction of the northern white rhino relies on poaches that used to hunt it to get its horn.
According to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), the illegal trafficking of wildlife is the fourth most lucrative activity for organized crime after drugs, arms and peoples’ trafficking. The financial benefits run between 7 to 23 billion US dollars. Yet, contrary to the illegal trafficking of drugs, arms and humans, penalties for trafficking endangered species are low, which make it a very attractive and profiting activity. Also, organized crime lords involved in drug, arms and human trafficking link the illegal trafficking of wildlife to their modus operandi, using the same routes, the same transport and even the same mechanisms to laundry money. Crimes against nature do not attract the interest of media nor social networks, but nevertheless they are harming the entire planet.
There are 17 megadiverse countries in the world where environmental degradation is a worrisome trend since all of them but two -Australia and the United States- are located in the Global South: Brazil, People’s Republic of China, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, South Africa, and Venezuela. Of the 17, three are the most polluting countries in the planet: PR China, the United States and India. Even though most of the megadiverse countries mentioned above have conservation programs, including protection of endangered species and national parks, the establishment of protected areas and various initiatives aimed at diminishing pollution, the development of renewable energies and the passing of environmental legislation, the reality is that there is the feeling they could do better.
For instance, PR China and Australia keep using coal as an important source of energy while others, like Mexico, favor fossil fuels -oil and gas over cleaner energies. Organized crime is strong in several of these countries, particularly in Latin America and thus, participates in the illegal trafficking of endangered species. One may notice that no European country is megadiverse and thus, the continent has traditionally been the consumer of endangered species illegally trafficked to Germany and other European destinations -as was the case not long ago of Rwanda’s Gorilla Mountain.
Another worrisome reality is that some of the megadiverse countries like PR China are involved in the illegal trafficking of endangered species since they are used by traditional medicine but also these practices are sponsored by the new rich who see wildlife as trophies linked to their socio-economic and/or political status. The illegal trafficking of totoaba, located in the Gulf of California in Mexico, is performed by networks of organized crime that trade it to the PR China. The most appreciated part of totoaba is the swim bladder or fish maw. It is widely believed, according to Chinese traditional medicine, that it benefits blood pressure and human skin, besides the fact that it is considered a delicacy. Totoaba clearly exemplifies the impacts on marine ecosystems. Normally totoaba is accompanied by the vaquita, the smallest marine mammal in the world that also lives in the Gulf of California. The hunt for totoaba sometimes affects vaquita, that is trapped in the same fishing nets. This is why vaquita is about to be extinguished since only three of them have been spotted by the Mexican Navy and biologists.
There are other ways in which biodiversity suffers from organized crime activities. Pablo Escobar, one of the most prominent drug lords who has inspired soap operas, songs and even novels, had the luxurious Hacienda Nápoles in Antioquia, Colombia where he owned a private Zoo. He imported four hippopotamuses from the United States: one male and three females. When Escobar died in 1993, most of the animals of his Hacienda were sent to Zoos but the hippopotamuses escaped to Rio Magdalena where they reproduced and now represent a population of around 170 specimens. If the situation is not controlled, by the end of the decade the population of these big and heavy animals will be of around 1 400 specimens with a potential devastating effect on Colombian biodiversity.
This reminds a similar situation that faced Australia when the British colonizers introduced rabbits to the island in 1859. The rabbits reproduce very quickly and because they did not have natural predators soon became the fastest non endemic species to infest a country to the point that even today Australia is still fighting them. Rabbits destroy crops, devastated natural ecosystems and all methods used to kill them failed until biological war was introduced to prevent their reproduction -a disease discovered in South American rabbits that destroy their reproductive organs and make them blind was taken to Australia and indeed diminished the rabbits population, although recently rabbits seem to be adapting once again and grow in large numbers. To be invasive, a species must adapt to the new area easily. It must reproduce quickly. It must harm property, the economy, or the native plants and animals of the region. In the examples provided above, the first caused by organized crime, the second almost by accident, the species involved are clearly invasive.
The introduction of non-indigenous species to ecosystems are the major cause for biodiversity loss. Unfortunately, this happens everywhere. The Simpsons made a parody of the rabbits’ plague in Australia in an episode when Bart brought a frog into the island upon arrival. When The Simpsons had to abandon Australia, the country was infested with frogs that destroyed crops and farms and other species in the country. In fact, this is not a fake story since cane toads were introduced to Australia to kill beetles but soon, they became a plague, because their skin is so toxic that kills potential predators.
Going back to the role of organized crime in biodiversity loss, the sole illegal trafficking of endangered species facilitates the introduction of parrots, reptiles, tiger parts, rhino horns, luxury foods -like caviar of shark fins- that impact ecosystems. This could happen during the hunt and shipments or deliveries, because species may escape -as illustrated by Escobar’s hippopotamuses- or be released which in turn may bring competition between species in the wildlife, altering ecosystems and spreading diseases.
The World Wildlife Crime Report 2024 published by UNODC shows that 15 animal and plants groups were concentrated in the illegal wildlife trade between 2016 and 2021. Speaking about seizures of animals, Rhinoceros are at the very top with 29 percent of all illegal animal trafficking, followed by Pangolins (28 percent), Elephants (15 percent), Eels and Crocodiles (5 percent each), Parrots and Cockatoos, Carnivores and Turtles and tortoises, snakes and seahorses (2 percent each). On the plants side illegal trafficking is dominated by Cedars and other Sapindales (47 percent), Rosewood (35 percent), Agarwood and other Myrtales (13 percent), Golden Chicken Fern and Orchids (1 percent each) and others (3 percent).
The International Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) effective on July 1, 1975, is a very useful tool aimed at preventing trade of animals and plants included at CITES that harm the survival of specimens in the wild. CITES issues reports of illegal trade every year which are the basis for the UNODC reports based on wildlife seizures reported by countries. Yet, this is only one part of the story.
Even though wildlife seizures are crucial it is extremely important to prevent illegal trafficking from happening since once specimens are taken away from their ecosystems, this is a point of no return. Species may even return to their homelands and ecosystems, but wildlife would not be the same. Also, when non-indigenous specimens arrive, the recipient ecosystems may not be able to function properly. It is true that adaptation plays a role, but biodiversity loss is not about animals and/or plants who can survive at different locations: it is about conservation and the preservation of ecosystems since those animals and plants are members of a community used to functioning with them in a certain way. It is true adaptation is possible -for instance there are types of wheat that have been genetically transformed to me more resistant to plagues, or vine and coffee plantations that can resist fungus and other diseases thanks to new technologies and pesticides. But even these successful stories come at a cost, and as rabbits in Australia have shown, they can even survive biological warfare. Thus, biodiversity loss needs to be seen as important as it is: as the cornerstone of environmental degradation, as well as the key component of environmental sustainability. And thus, the role of organized crime must be conceived not only through the same glasses of drugs, arms and persons’ trafficking, but as a major contributor to the current environmental crisis, the most challenging in the world’s history.
Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by María Cristina Rosas, a professor and researcher in the faculty of political and social sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. The column appears in The Rio Grande Guardian International News Service with the permission of the author. Rosas can be reached via email at: mcrosas@prodigy.net.mx
