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The global demand for ivory is driving heavily armed poachers from Chad and Sudan into Cameroon's Bouba Ndjida National Park. two decades, the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants programme has recorded 3,004 elephants illegally killed in this region. In April 2023, several were killed in Chad’s Beinamar area, close to the Cameroon border, sparking concerns about a potential resurgence of poaching. The Bouba Ndjida National Park in Cameroon’s North Region shares a border with the Sena Oura Biosphere Reserve in Chad.

A government proposal to exclude South African National Parks from having to get environmental authorisation for some developments in the Kruger National Park has slipped in almost unnoticed. Just five responses were received to this proposal that was gazetted by Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) Minister Barbara Creecy in mid-February, with a public comment period of 40 days.

Cape Town - Law enforcement officers and the abalone poachers were involved in a game of 'hide and seek' until in the early hours of Tuesday morning along the Atlantic Seaboard, after officers received a tip. City law enforcement members in the CBD, as well the marine and environmental unit officers, responded to a complaint of poaching last night. Law enforcement spokesperson Wayne Dyason said poachers were spotted in the water and vehicles associated with their activities were also identified.

Five suspects in Limpopo have been arrested for rhino poaching and illegal trades if elephant tusks. According to Sowetan Live, Col Malesela Ledwaba, police spokesperson, stated that the men were apprehended by the endangered species unit and wildlife security on Thursday. The five men who four of them are reported to be foreigners and one South African are expected to appear at the Letsitele and Maake magistrates’ court.

The west coastal waters of South Africa are under siege, not from the waves of the Atlantic, but from an insidious tide of environmental crime that is sweeping away one of its most precious marine resources. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime has sounded the alarm on the rampant illicit trade of South African abalone, with the country's Haliotis midae species, locally known as perlemoen (abalone), facing potential extinction due to soaring demand from East Asia. So rampant is this environmental crime that the Global…

These crimes, ranging from illegal wildlife trade to unregulated fishing and the trafficking of rare timber and precious stones, are estimated to be worth between $110 billion and $281 billion annually, positioning them among the most profitable illicit economies worldwide. The report, titled Hidden in Plain Site, is written by Kristina Amerhauser and Robin Cartwright and looks at illicit financial flows (IFFs) related to three specific illicit environmental flows: timber trafficking from Myanmar to China; gemstone trafficking from Mozambique to Thailand; and abalone…

R155 billion!

South Africa, despite being considered a low-risk area for illegal logging, is grappling with a surge in environmental crimes, the Global Crime Index has shown. The country is not just a consumer of illegal timber and other flora products from neighbouring southern African countries, but is also a significant source country for wildlife crime, involving high-value species such as rhinos, lions, and elephants. Illegal trade of cycads is generating substantial profits, with some specimens fetching up to millions on the international market.