Category: Conservation

Wildlife crime still remains a serious conservation issue which has grown so much as to have international ramifications. Wildlife crime includes poaching, illegal exploitation of wildlife resources, encroachment into protected areas, illegal wildlife trade and destruction of wildlife habitats.   It has both direct and indirect negative impacts on local communities, including depletion of the resource base on which they depend for their livelihoods.  According to recent studies, wildlife crime is the fourth largest illegal activity in the world, after drug trafficking, counterfeiting and human trafficking, with an annual turnover of at least US$ 19 billion.