Overall, using weight and transaction indices derived from the ETIS data, illegal ivory trade activity remained at or slightly above 1998 levels up to 2006. Subsequently, a gradual increase in illegal ivory trade activity commences, becoming progressively greater in each successive year, with a major surge in 2011. The frequency of illegal ivory trade transactions in 2011 was roughly three times greater than the level of illegal trade activity...

Since 2010, the percentage of elephants being killed illegally at MIKE sites across Africa has been higher than their natural reproduction rate.

The PIKE trend across Africa show a clear increase in the proportion of illegally killed elephants from 2006 and up to 2012.

Asian elephants occur in isolated populations in 13 range States, with an approximate total range area of almost 880,000 square kilometres equivalent to only one-tenth of the historical range as defined by the IUCN. Today Asian elephants occur in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Feral populations occur on some of the Andaman Islan...

Large-scale ivory shipments originating from Africa have almost exclusively been seized in containers at major ports in Asia, where there is an established customs inspection systems. Shipments have mainly originated from not only Dar es Salaam or Mombasa, but also West Africa.

The overall sub-regional distribution of the African elephant indicates that approximately half of the total elephant population is found in Southern Africa, while less than 30 per cent are found in Eastern Africa. West Africa is home to the smallest number of elephants, only two per cent of the total number of elephants on the continent. The remaining 20 per cent of African elephants are found in Central Africa, although elephant numbers from t...

Elephant population distribution and approximate core ranges of elephants in Africa. Individuals and minor groups of elephants can be found outside these ranges.

While poaching is an immediate and direct threat to the African elephant, range and habitat loss are the most significant longterm threat to the species’ survival. There is good reason to believe that the total elephant range in Africa has been in decline over the last two decades. In 1995, the total range area of the African elephant was estimated at 26 per cent of the continent’s total land cover (Said et al. 1995). However, the latest ...

The latest estimates of the total number of African elephants range between 419,000 and 650,000. Overall data reliability at the continental level has declined as many important populations have not been surveyed for over ten years.

In 2011, approximately 7.4 per cent of the total elephant populations in African MIKE sites were killed illegally. This is a significant increase from 2010, when the average number of elephants killed was estimated to be 11,500. Healthy elephant populations have a natural annual growth rate of between 5 and 6 per cent (Dunham 2012), or a theoretical maximum of 7 per cent (Hanks 1973). Thus the 7.4 per cent estimated illegal off-take in 2011 i...

Central Africa has shown worrying poaching trends for some time, and has consistently displayed the highest levels of poaching in any sub-region since MIKE monitoring began. In 2006, PIKE levels were at 0.5, meaning that about half the elephant carcasses encountered on patrol in MIKE sites were reported as illegally killed. In 2011, however, PIKE levels had risen to 0.9. This extremely high PIKE level exceeds any of poaching data is becoming appa...

The African continent has struggled with political instability and conflict in recent history. Such instability encourages criminal activity including wildlife trafficking, poaching and other environmental crimes (Bouché et al. 2012; Chase and Beyers et al. 2011; Griffin 2011). While there are few big conflicts in Southern Africa today, civil unrest and sporadic fighting continues in the Congo Basin, including in the Democratic Republic of Con...

Primary and secondary ivory smuggling routes in Africa based on a wide range of sources including both ETIS seizures and criminal intelligence.

Prices for live great apes vary greatly according to where they are sold, initial cost to the seller, risk factors and bribes in shipping, the estimated economic status of the buyer and demand factors.

The orangutan is the only great ape found in Asia, and historically is thought to have once ranged across Indochina. Today, two distinct species are found on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, respectively. The Bornean orangutan is divided into three further sub-species. Sumatran orangutan The Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelli) has been listed as Critically Endangered since 2000 and its population has decreased by 80 per cent over the last 7...

There are two populations of Mountain gorilla (Gorilla beringei beringei): one in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park in Uganda (extending into the Sarambwe Forest in DR Congo), and the second in the Virunga Volcanoes conservation area comprising the three national parks that straddle Rwanda, Uganda and eastern DR Congo. The Eastern Lowland gorilla (Gorilla beringei graueri), also known as the Grauer’s gorilla, is only found in the ...

All great ape species have experienced considerable declines in population size and range over the past few decades. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species lists all of the great apes as either Endangered or Critically Endangered and all great apes except the Mountain gorillas show decreasing population trends. Most notably, fewer than 300 Cross River gorillas are left in West Africa; as few as 2...

The main regulatory instrument aimed at the protection of the Mediterranean marine and coastal environment is the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the Mediterranean (Barcelona Convention) which entered into force in 2004. The Barcelona Convention’s main objectives are "to prevent, abate, combat and to the fullest extent possible eliminate pollution of the Mediterranean Sea Area" and "to protect and...

China is probably the largest importer of wood products of illegal origin. Other primary importers of illegal logs or wood products are Japan, the EU, and the US.