The Rising Threat of Plant Poaching: A Global Concern

In even the most arid deserts, such as the Atacama in Chile, life finds a way to thrive, including slow-growing species like the Copiapoa cacti, which are unique to this region and can live for centuries. In a notable case from 2019, Italian authorities confiscated over a thousand of these endangered cacti valued at more than one million dollars from a dealer known as the 'King of Cactus Pirates' on WhatsApp. The dealer, Andrea Piombetti, was pursued by law enforcement for years and was sentenced to 18 months in prison this year for trafficking these protected species, which are illegal to export from Chile under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

This incident has garnered attention similar to high-profile cases of wildlife poaching, yet plant trafficking remains largely underreported. Of the 35,000 species protected by CITES, over 30,000 are plants, yet their illegal trade is often overlooked compared to animal trafficking. Jared Margulies, a political scientist from the University of Sheffield, highlights this disparity, noting that many people are 'plant blind' when it comes to recognizing the gravity of the issue.

Historically, plant collecting has attracted considerable attention, particularly during the 19th century's 'orchidelirium,' when adventurers scoured remote forests for rare orchids to satisfy Victorian England's demand. Today, while much of this trade has shifted online and remains discreet, orchids are still sought after, particularly from East Asia, contributing to a black market that supplements legal cultivation.

Other plants, such as Venus flytraps from Carolina, are also victims of illegal collection. Margulies has documented these trends and has pointed out a recent surge in the poaching of succulents, which have become increasingly popular. These water-retaining plants, commonly found in semi-desert regions like South Africa, have long been cultivated and traded legally; however, they have recently gained immense popularity on social media platforms in China, thanks in part to 'plantfluencers,' many of whom leveraged the COVID-19 pandemic to promote plant collecting as a hobby.

As South Africans faced economic hardships during the pandemic, some turned to succulent collecting as a new source of income. Unfortunately, this shift has attracted criminal organizations that had previously dealt in other illicit trades, such as diamond smuggling. Since 2019, it is estimated that over one million succulents have been trafficked illegally, with customs officials in South Africa seizing shipments that were falsely labeled as children's toys.

Botanical gardens, particularly the renowned Kew Gardens in London, play a crucial role in combatting plant poaching. These institutions are often targets of theft themselves, with rare specimens like a unique water lily and rare tree ferns being stolen from gardens around the world. In response, some botanical gardens have implemented security measures, including forensic techniques to analyze stolen specimens.

Historically, however, botanical gardens were once complicit in biopiracy. For example, during colonial times, Kew Gardens benefited from the illicit collection of valuable plants such as the rubber tree, whose seeds were smuggled out of Brazil and contributed to the establishment of the rubber industry in British colonies in Asia.

This legacy of biopiracy is often overlooked, but modern botanical gardens have shifted their focus to conservation efforts, actively working against illegal plant trafficking. The most lucrative market today involves not living plants but timber, particularly tropical woods. The illegal timber trade is estimated to be worth around 152 billion dollars, making it the third largest illegal market globally, following drugs and counterfeit goods. The value of seized rosewood has surpassed that of ivory, prompting law enforcement agencies to invest in forensic methodologies to trace timber origins.

Victor Deklerck from Kew Gardens is currently exploring the illegal timber trade, focusing on wood from Russia and Belarus, which is being smuggled into the European Union in circumvention of sanctions related to the Ukraine conflict.