Report wildlife crime in Vietnam
Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV) has released new findings on Vietnamese law enforcement performance in relation to their response and action to protect wildlife. The data collected through ENV’s Wildlife Crime Unit reveals law enforcement agencies in Vietnam responded to 84% of publicly reported wildlife crimes in 2019.
ENV has been compiling wildlife crime data for more than 15 years and operates an Incident Tracking Database, containing more than 16,000 cases logged since ENV’s Crime Unit was established. However, this is the first report that compares the responsiveness of agencies tasked with wildlife protection in all 63 provinces based on four key criteria, and provides national and provincial baselines from which to assess performance in publicly reported wildlife crime. The four key criteria, public reports, responsiveness, success rate, and live animal success rate, are described in detail in the report.
ENV Law Enforcement Responsiveness Report 2019 PDF
“ENV congratulates and thanks all of the Forest Protection Departments, police, and relevant law enforcement agencies who contributed to the successful protection of wildlife in their provinces,” states Bui Thi Ha, Head of ENV’s Policy and Legislation Department.
“Combatting the wildlife trade is not easy, but it is the responsibility of all provinces in Vietnam, now more than ever, and the involvement of the public is crucial to ending this industry which threatens public health worldwide. Exemplified by the Covid-19 pandemic, the wildlife trade has no place in modern day society and must be eradicated as soon as possible,” Bui Ha adds.
ENV is challenging authorities from all provinces, even top performing provinces, to improve their responsiveness rate in 2020 to reach a new national average of 90%. Moreover, considerable improvements should be in place to increase national average success rate to at least 50%.
Aiming at effectively improving wildlife protection in Vietnam, hard copies of the evaluation report have been distributed to provincial People’s Committees to inform leaders how well their provinces are performing on a national scale. Copies have also been sent to Forest Protection Departments and relevant law enforcement agencies in all 63 provinces.
In 2009, Education for Nature – Vietnam (ENV) initiated a 12 month investigation in Vietnam aimed at examining links between tiger farming and illegal trade. In addition, we sought to develop a better understanding of the illegal trade networks and the key individuals who are responsible for the bulk of the illegal tiger trade in Vietnam.
During the investigation, ENV worked closely with key partners in the National Environmental Police, provincial police agencies and Forest Protection Departments, as well as independent investigators.
This interim briefing is intended to highlight some of the key findings of the investigation to date. Later in 2010, a comprehensive, confidential report will be produced for law enforcement agencies and key government representatives detailing the findings thus far.
There are two species of pangolin native to Vietnam, the Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) and the Sunda pangolin (Manis javanica). The Chinese pangolin inhabits the northern regions of the country, whereas the Sunda pangolin is found in the south. Both of these species are listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List, with wild populations suspected of undergoing sharp declines due to hunting and trade.
A brief analysis of the pangolin trade was conducted by ENV in 2011 reviewing cases documented on ENV’s Wildlife Crime Database over the past six years (since January 2005). The purpose of the analysis was to assess the volume of pangolin trade as documented by ENV over this period, and provide reliable information on the average weight of a pangolin in trade so that quantities of animals could be more accurately determined from gross-weight seizures.
The following summary of tiger seizures for the period January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2013 was compiled by Education for Nature – Vietnam (ENV), in order to ensure that accurate data for Vietnam is made available for use in addressing tiger trade enforcement issues regionally.
The following analysis is based upon records available to the SSN Big Cat Working Group and ENV which indicate that since the start of 2000, at least 5,786 Asian big cats have been identified in trade globally, of which 22 percent (1,247) were tigers from both wild and captive sources. It is likely that these totals are much higher, for example a new report suggests that as many as 1,590 tigers have been traded since 2000.
Commercial wildlife farming is the practice of raising and breeding wildlife species in captivity with the goal of
harvesting animals or animal products for commercial profit (WCS, 2008). There exists a distinction between
farming animals for commercial purposes and breeding wild animals for conservation purposes.
This report only focuses on commercial wildlife farming. Throughout the report, the terms ‘commercial wildlife farming’
and ‘wildlife farming’ refer to the practice of raising a wildlife species (capable of breeding in captivity) for commercial
profit, and are used interchangeably.
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