Knowledge
Exchange

HKU’s Conservation Forensics Lab finds customs coding systems for wildlife trade too vague to protect against abuse

By Eric Lee

Feb 23rd 2021

Top three import and export countries/territories for each wildlife trade category from 1997 to 2016 by total US$ trade value.

Led by PhD student Astrid Andersson, the research team from the HKU Conservation Forensics Lab and Research Division for Ecology and Biodiversity found that a sizeable percentage of the wildlife trade is declared under “vague, all-encompassing codes with broad descriptions.”

Research paper:
“CITES and beyond: illuminating 20 years of global, legal wildlife trade”
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989421000056

News links:
https://www.scifac.hku.hk/press/release/Legal-trade-conservation-forensics-labs

https://indiaeducationdiary.in/hkus-conservation-forensics-lab-reveals-thousands-of-species-traded-legally-through-hong-kong-with-inadequate-traceability-leading-to-unnoticed-over-exploitation-of-common-species/

http://www.hkcd.com/content/2021-02/21/content_1250142.html

https://hongkongfp.com/2021/02/01/hku-research-finds-customs-coding-systems-for-wildlife-trade-too-vague-to-protect-against-abuse/

https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/3123320/how-can-illegal-wildlife-trade-be-curbed-if-we-dont-know-which-animals

https://www.sciencecodex.com/species-traded-legally-through-hong-kong-inadequate-traceability-668369

https://bioengineer.org/species-traded-legally-through-hong-kong-with-inadequate-traceability/

https://scienmag.com/species-traded-legally-through-hong-kong-with-inadequate-traceability/

https://phys.org/news/2021-03-species-legally-hong-kong-inadequate.html

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-03/tuoh-stl030521.php

Back to Knowledge Exchange