This archive of published media articles about wildlife crime in Namibia aims to:
Public access to information is a vital component of ensuring community engagement in prevalent issues. Wildlife crime is one of the pressing environmental issues of our time.
Wildlife crime investigations are generally covert operations requiring utmost confidentiality to succeed. Investigations and prosecutions in complex cases may take months or even years to complete. For this reason, the information that can be released to the public without compromising cases is often limited. Nonetheless, the Namibian government strives to share as much information as possible with the public.
The Namibian media has welcomed this approach and regularly publishes statistics and feature articles on wildlife crime. These are entered into the database at regular intervals, creating a comprehensive archive of wildlife crime reporting in Namibia.
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African countries are estimated to lose $17 billion to illegal logging each year. This is part of a
global market with an economic value of $30 to $150 billion. The net profit from the illegal
charcoal trade alone in Africa is estimated to be as much as $9 billion, "compared to the [$]2.65
billion worth of street value heroin and cocaine in the region." High-value timber species are in
immense global demand, with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
reporting that Africa’s share of rosewood exports to China rose from 40 percent in 2008 to 90
Investigations by the Centre for Natural Resource Governance (CNRG) have revealed Zimbabwe is now a major transit route for smuggling of valuable but critically endangered shell fish, abalone, to China and other countries.
Zimbabwe has realised a spike in wildlife poaching as the wildlife management authority has redirected efforts towards combating the spread of Covid-19 during the current lockdown period, a top lobby has said.
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ZIM_2020-05_Spike In Wildlife Poaching As Poachers Take Advantage Of Lockdown Laxities_NewZimbabwe.pdf | 481.91 KB |
Law enforcement officials in Hluhluwe and Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal, have been applauded for the stellar work they displayed in intercepting a group of rhino poachers who were on the verge of claiming the life of one of these endangered animals.
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SA_2020-02_Rhino poachers stopped in their tracks by KZN police.pdf | 356.55 KB |
Rhino crimes accounted for most arrests during the past year, with 145 suspects having been detained. A significant number of these were pre-emptive arrests, where suspects were caught before they could kill a rhino. This is not only a highly commendable law enforcement success, but also a very positive conservation outcome. Pre-emptive arrests have directly saved numerous rhinos and will allow the population to continue to multiply. The number of rhinos known to have been poached in Namibia during 2020 has decreased from the previous year.
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Combatting Wildlife Crime in Namibia_Annual Report 2020.pdf | 3.04 MB |