Transport companies should play a role in fight to stop illegal trade in wildlife
Wilson Lau says logistics companies that act as key connectors in the chain between wildlife poachers and consumers should be named
The most recent case of illegal wildlife exports that was intercepted at Hong Kong's borders was a 2-tonne shipment of pangolin scales that arrived last month. We know it came from Nigeria in 44 nylon bags, a shipment that would be worth HK$10 million in the market. What was not disclosed was how it got here, or, more specifically, which shipping company enabled this illegal shipment to be delivered unsuspected until it reached Hong Kong.
Illegal wildlife products smuggled into Hong Kong tend not to come through on dinghy boats anchoring at remote jetties in the dark of night. Rather, they are usually hidden among other cargo on ocean-going vessels or commercial flights. This means that legitimate businesses are, often unknowingly, involved in the transnational trade of illegal wildlife.
Such involvement is rarely reported. The Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department discloses all illegal wildlife intercepted at various border checkpoints, but the information it shares is limited to the quantity and value of the shipment, where it came from and, sometimes, the intended destination, if Hong Kong is not the shipment's final port of call. Which shipping or flight company was used, or which logistics company facilitated the trade is, crucially, not revealed.
The identity of the companies involved should be divulged. These businesses in the logistics and transport sector inadvertently support perpetrators of wildlife smuggling by enabling the movement of illegal products. Their involvement may be innocent but their role is hardly that of a mere bystander.
Traffickers rely on commercial transport channels to not ask questions or inspect their goods before shipment. But if government press releases and news outlets named the transport carriers or logistic companies that were used in connection with an illegal wildlife seizure, these companies may be compelled to take precautionary steps to ensure that the contents of the shipment they are transporting are legitimate.
Transport and logistics companies that ply international trade routes are key connectors in the chain between wildlife poachers and consumers. The reputational risk to companies of such disclosures should not be underestimated, nor the fact that businesses can be powerful agents of change. Companies can often drive change rapidly within their operations at a scale that governments would struggle to replicate, especially across political boundaries.