Wildlife Trade and Law Enforcement: A Proposal for a Remodeling of CITES Incorporating Species Justice, Ecojustice, and Environmental Justice

Date01 July 2022
DOI10.1177/0306624X221099492
Published date01 July 2022
Subject MatterArticles
https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X221099492
International Journal of
Offender Therapy and
Comparative Criminology
2022, Vol. 66(9) 1017 –1035
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0306624X221099492
journals.sagepub.com/home/ijo
Article
Wildlife Trade and Law
Enforcement: A Proposal
for a Remodeling of CITES
Incorporating Species Justice,
Ecojustice, and Environmental
Justice
Ragnhild Sollund1
Abstract
Wildlife trade is an increasing problem worldwide, whether legal or illegal. It causes
species extinction, connects to organized crime and contributes to social unrest.
Wildlife trade is regulated through the Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a convention that includes most
of the countries in the world. Even though wildlife trade is not necessarily breach of
any law, wildlife trade still constitutes severe breaches of species justice, ecojustice,
environmental justice, and animal rights. By employing these perspectives in the study
of wildlife trade, the harms nonhuman animals suffer as victims of this trade receives
a broader concern than that encompassed through conventional criminology. This
article addresses nonhuman animal victimization through a theoretical lens that
includes the justice perspective found in green criminology, and Nussbaum’s concept
of dignified existence. Empirically the article is based on an ongoing research project:
Criminal Justice, Wildlife Conservation, and Animal rights in the Anthropocene
(CRIMEANTHROP). The article starts with an introduction, followed by theoretical
outlining and a presentation of empirical findings. These findings are discussed using
the theoretical perspectives mentioned above. The concluding discussion suggests a
radical shift in the function of CITES, from trade to conditional aid.
Keywords
CITES, wildlife trade, justice, green criminology, animal abuse
1University of Oslo, Norway
Corresponding Author:
Ragnhild Sollund, Professor, Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, University of Oslo,
Norway.
Email: Ragnhild.sollund@jus.UiO.no
1099492IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X221099492International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologySollund
research-article2022
1018 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 66(9)
Introduction
Wildlife trade harms and kills billions of animals1 yearly. The phenomenon is multi-
farious. It includes the hunting and fishing of animals for food (e.g., Kurpiers et al.,
2016); trophy hunting (Sollund & Runhovde, 2020; Wall & McClanahan, 2015); and
the exploitation of animals, such as of pangolins, moon bears, and tigers, who are
encaged and whose body parts and derived products are used in Traditional Chinese
Medicine (TCM) (e.g., van Uhm & Wong, 2019). Animals and animal products are
also traded for other purposes, much of which/whom is trafficked in luggage to
Europe (Sollund & Maher, 2015; van Uhm, 2016) or to the US (Petrossian et al.,
2016). Elephants are killed for their ivory (Underwood et al., 2013) or trafficked to
circuses and zoological gardens (McKenzie & Swails, 2019); birds and their eggs are
taken to become part of collections (Sollund, 2019). Live animals are trafficked
broadly to be used as domestic “pets” (Lavorgna, 2014; Sollund, 2019; van Uhm,
2016; Wyatt, 2021b).
The national and international trade in wild caught animals is widespread. Most of
these animals suffer from this, whether reptiles (Warwick, 2014), mammals or birds.
Reptiles are hunted and skinned, or locally bred and skinned, to become fashionable
purses, belts and shoes. They are often kept in cramped and filthy conditions (Marshall
et al., 2020). The captive breeding of crocodiles is an important source of income for,
for example, Colombia (Sollund, 2019); however, a large number of wild caught croc-
odiles and caimans are trafficked for the same purpose (Sinovas et al., 2017).
Wildlife trade in general is not forbidden, however many species are protected from
hunting in countries’ national legislation. Wildlife also receive partial protection in the
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES). CITES is an international trade convention regulating wildlife trade that was
established in order to prevent the extinction of species when, in the 1960s, worries
arose that the global wildlife trade was increasing to such an extent that countries in
the South would lose the resources wildlife (plants and animals) were regarded to
constitute for many nations (CITES n.d.). CITES currently has 183 parties. CITES
does not protect animals from trade before their species is threatened with extinction.
CITES also has little concern for the welfare of individual animals who are victims of
trade (Goyes & Sollund, 2016; Mulà Arribas, 2015; Sollund, 2019; Wyatt et al., 2021),
and partial protection is awarded only to those species that are listed on the CITES
appendices. Currently 5,950 species of animals and 32,800 species of plants have
some protection in CITES, but far more species never reach any appendix. This is only
one of the weaknesses of CITES (Reeve, 2014, Goyes & Sollund, 2016, Sollund,
2019, Wyatt, 2021a, 2021b).
Species are grouped in the appendices according to how threatened they are by
international trade. Appendix I includes species threatened with extinction. Trade in
these species is permitted only in exceptional circumstances. Appendix II includes
species not yet threatened with extinction, but in which trade is controlled in order to
avoid exploitation incompatible with species survival. Appendix III species are those
that are protected in at least one country, which has asked other CITES Parties for

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT