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The conviction of four people in the Northern Cape for the illegal poaching of the miracle bush lily reveals that criminal syndicates are targeting a wider array of South Africa's unique flora for international markets. The Calvinia Regional Court in the Northern Cape has convicted four foreign nationals for poaching 303 Clivia mirabilis, more commonly known as the miracle bush lily or the Oorlogskloof bush lily, worth an estimated retail value of between R6-million and R30-million.

The unprecedented onslaught against South African succulents now includes beautiful and rare clivias, which are being illegally harvested to extinction to supply markets abroad. In 2023, the ENACT organised crime project outlined the global illegal trade in southern Africa’s succulent flora, and suggested ways to strengthen implementation of South Africa's National Response Strategy and Action Plan. In September 2024, guided by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), stakeholders met to consider progress, using ENACT's recommendations as a benchmark.

As two collectors walk down the South Korean nursery's humid aisles, they spot a magnificent specimen. Having collected South African succulents for over two decades, their greenhouse showcases many plants growing in what looks like their natural Succulent Karoo habitat. But they have never seen this species before, and judging from its size, the plant looks decades old. The nursery owner tells them the succulent is a new mother plant used for cultivation and is not for sale. But if they wanted an equally large plant, he could connect them to his broker.

There are worrying signs that the illegal trade is becoming more organised, with professionals and government officials involved.

The head of the North West Parks and Tourism Board has told Parliament that the thieves who stole 51 rhino horns from its guarded facility in June must have had intimate knowledge of its security system.

Cape Town - SANParks Honorary Rangers is hard at work to stop rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park and all SANParks areas with assistance and collaboration from Rhino Tears, a wine brand, that donates towards the rangers with every bottle sold.

There is an urgent need to step up the fight against wildlife crime and human-induced reduction of species, which have wide-ranging economic, environmental and social impacts in the country, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndhlovu says.

Zimbabwe needs to establish an independent and specialised environmental court to effectively deal with the environmental litigation cases and offer better quality of sentencing to safeguard and restore the country's environment, WWF - Zimbabwe country director, Dr Enos Shumba says.

About 100,000 children in and around the national parks of Gonarezhou in Zimbabwe and Limpopo in Mozambique are being educated through the Peace and Changemaker Generation project to appreciate wildlife conservation efforts and to take a stand against wildlife crime. The project also promotes girls’ rights in their communities as part of wider efforts to strengthen the two countries’ efforts to combat wildlife trafficking.