The illegal wildlife trade can drive extinction and spread diseases. The Asian palm civet, for example, was linked to SARS
The recent COVID-19 pandemic has renewed calls for action to aggressively tackle illegal wildlife trade, with reports stating that the novel coronavirus is linked to a wet market that sells wild animals in China.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), wildlife trafficking is the fourth largest illegal trade in the world after drugs, human trafficking and counterfeiting, with Asia being the epicentre.
Southeast Asia, in particular, is implicated to be a hotbed in three aspects: as poaching hotspots, given a number of ubiquitous species found only in the region; as transit points for illegal networks to avoid detection; and as consumer markets, both as a source and end destination for illegal wildlife products.
Illegal wildlife trade is driven by the demand for illegal wildlife products in forms such as food, medicines and souvenirs, which leads to indiscriminate hunting or harvesting of wild animals or plants, especially endangered ones.
Consequently, the survival of many wildlife species is being threatened – at worst, to the point of extinction – and when sold for consumption in unhygienic, poorly regulated markets, certain wild animals can carry diseases that could potentially harm human health.
In fact, COVID-19 is the latest outbreak of human diseases that have originated in animals, following the likes of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Ebola.
Thus, governments and citizens around the world must strive to curtail the demand for illegal wildlife products in order to curb wildlife trafficking.
They can achieve this by being fully committed in efforts to sustainably develop the land, preserving and conserving biodiversity, and strengthening biosecurity and public health regulations.
