Despite long-standing commitments to protect threatened species from overexploitation and to
support natural resource management development, some argue that the scope and scale of illegal
wildlife trade has risen to historic levels.1
According to U.S. government estimates, illegal trade
in endangered wildlife products, including elephant ivory, rhino horns, and turtle shells, is worth
at least an estimated $7 billion to $10 billion annually.2
This figure does not include illegal
logging and illegal fishing, which can account, respectively, for roughly an additional $30 billion
to $100 billion annually and $10 billion to $23 billion annually.3
Such figures may place illegal
wildlife trafficking among the top 10 most lucrative criminal activities worldwide.