Wildlife Trafficking: New detection tools to control wildlife smuggling at Indian Airports

 

 Tens of thousands of young star tortoises are trafficked every year at Indian airports.

Illegal wildlife trade affects the entire world including countries with better laws and penalties. Wildlife trafficking is a multi-billion dollar illicit global industry. To curb this illegal business through India's airports, a unique kind of detection tools has been developed by NGO TRAFFIC and UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) in collaboration with WCCB (Wildlife Crime Control Bureau) and WWF-India.

New awareness and capacity-building tools developed under the project ‘Deterring and disrupting wildlife trafficking in  the air transport sector in India’ were launched on March 25 at the National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes & Narcotics (NACIN), Faridabad.

“Illegal wildlife trade through airports is a major conservation threat magnified by the growth in the airline sector. It is important for enforcement agencies to prioritise bringing an end to wildlife trafficking. We are pleased to have partnered with TRAFFIC, WWF-India, Customs, CISF and WCCB to design and implement a dedicated programme that will help strengthen the detection of illegal wildlife trade at airports,” said Mr Atul Bagai, Head of the United Nations Environment Programme Country Office in India.

Detection tools are an essential component of any successful counter trafficking strategy. As large quantities of goods and people move across the globe every day, governments and supporting partners are tasked with the challenge of detecting, stopping and confiscating wildlife contraband, despite limited resources. Detection tools help to meet this challenge by enhancing their ability to detect and ultimately disrupt the illegal wildlife trade.

The capacity-building tools are accessible via a new online knowledge hub (www.IWTKnowledgeHub.in) and include:

-Two online courses on how to curb wildlife trafficking and relevant laws and regulation

-An informative video highlighting wildlife trafficking through airports

-Checklists for enforcement officials to use in their day to day operations

-Posters and standees offering vital information about commonly trafficked wildlife species

 

According to Wildlife Crime Control Bureau additional Director Ms Tilotama Varma, “Airports have emerged as a popular mode for transporting wildlife contrabands due to the shorter travel time and extensive reach. Traffickers smuggle wildlife and their derivatives through checked luggage and personal baggage, by concealment of wildlife contraband within passenger clothing, footwear and other wearables, and through the wrong declaration of protected species, all of which makes detection cumbersome for enforcement agencies. The newly developed resources under the project will prove useful for bridging such gap.

The study “HIGH FLYING: Insight into wildlife trafficking through India’s airports” by TRAFFIC India, Chennai International Airport, Tamil Nadu, recorded the highest number of wildlife seizure incidents, followed by Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai and Indira Gandhi Airport New Delhi. Among the species groups seized (including both Indian and exotic species), reptiles were the most encountered group during the study period (46%), followed by mammals (18%), timber (13%), and species from the marine environment (10%).

The highest number of native species seized included the Indian Star Tortoise, followed by the Black Pond Turtle Geoclemys hamiltonii. Whereas, the highest number of non-native species seized, Red-Eared Slider Turtle, followed by the Chinese Pond Turtle Mauremys reevesii.

Chennai International Airport, Tamil Nadu, recorded the highest number of wildlife seizure incidents, followed by Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai and Indira Gandhi  Airport New Delhi.

Star tortoise is the most smuggled animal from Indian airports, collected in the tens of thousands annually from India and smuggled into East and Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong. The airport in the southern Indian city of Chennai has long been the smuggling hub for star tortoises.

Despite a 2019 total ban on the international trade in the species. While India continues to be the main country of origin for wild-caught star tortoises, Sri Lanka has in recent years become both a prominent source country and transit hub for trafficking networks that move the animals to East and Southeast Asia. (India Blooms)

"TRAFFIC's study of wildlife seizures at Indian airports between 2011-2020 reinstates the need to strengthen enforcement efforts to curb the exploitation of the airline sector for conducting illegal wildlife trade," said Dr Saket Badola, Head of TRAFFIC's India Office, the lead agency responsible for developing and implementing new awareness and capacity building tools.

 "We thank UNEP and our partners for their support in launching a first of its kind project in India focused on working with enforcement officials to detect and deter wildlife trafficking through airports", Badola said.

TRAFFIC is an organization that was established in 1976 by WWF and IUCN as a wildlife trade monitoring network to undertake data collection, analysis, and provision of recommendations to inform decision making on wildlife trade. For over 40 years TRAFFIC performed that function as a leader in wildlife trade research, as a joint program of WWF and IUCN. TRAFFIC became an independent non-profit organization in 2017, with WWF and IUCN sitting on its Board of Directors along with independent Board members. TRAFFIC is renowned globally for its expertise and influence in the wildlife trade and conservation arena, as a provider of objective and reliable information. Its expert staff implement innovative projects and create.