ORGANIZED CRIME: THE HIDDEN ENEMY OF SUSTAINABLE WILDLIFE IN TANZANIA
James Spillane
St. Augustine University of Tanzania
Professor James J. Spillane, S.J. was born at Brighton, Massachusetts, United States of America on 25 January, 1943. His assignments in the Jesuits have been mainly in university teaching including assignments in Iraq, Jamaica, Iran, Colombia, Indonesia ( for 33 years) and is currently at St. Augustine University of Tanzania in Mwanza, Tanzania. He became an Indonesian citizen on 4 October, 1996. While in Indonesia he was joint Professor of Economics at Sanata Dharma University and Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He was also director of the Sanata Dharma Center for Tourism Research and Training. For the last six years he has been the Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration at St. Augustine University of Tanzania in Mwanza, Tanzania. He also lectures in the Tourism & Hospitality Management Department and the Masters of Business Administration program there. He received his B.S. and M.A. in Mathematics from Boston College (1964 and 1966), his Ph.D in International Economics from New York University (1972) and his M. Div. from the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass. USA (1976).
Abstract
According to an American Congressional Research Service recent report, international criminals now supply a market for wildlife and wildlife animal products worth an estimated US$ 133 billion annually. The buyers may be avid... [ view full abstract ]
According to an American Congressional Research Service recent report, international criminals now supply a market for wildlife and wildlife animal products worth an estimated
US$ 133 billion annually. The buyers may be avid ornithophiles [bird lovers], people wanting the latest trendy fashion, or greedy gourmets [food lovers].
Commodities such as rhino horns or caviar offer criminals two benefits rarely found together: high prices and low risk. A Rhino horn can fetch up to US $ 50,000 per kilogram, more than gold or the American street value of cocaine. Anyone caught bringing in a kilogram of cocaine into America could face up to 40 years in prison and a US $ 5 million fine. On January 10, 2014, by contrast, a New York court sentenced a rhino horn trafficker to just 14 months in jail.
The appeal of such trade is increased, however unwittingly, by governments trying harder to protect what is precious and rare. For example, when governments agree to only take ten tuna out of the ocean this year because that is all we can afford to take, then the eleventh tuna will be worth a lot of money. This is the opinion of Theodore Legett of the UN Office on Drungs and Crime [UNODC]. As with tuna, so with ebony, ivory and rhino horn – all being regulated more tightly and all still desirable.
Organized crime is globalizing and diversifying. Mono-ethic, hierarchical mafias are being replaced by multi-ethnic networks that operate across borders and commit many types of offences. In an ongoing investigation into rhino-horn trafficking, the Fish and Wildlife Service [FWS] arrested Irish travelers using very poor Texans to procure material for Chinese and Vietnamese buyers. Europol, the European Union’s law-enforcement agency, estimates that just a quarter of Europe’s roughly 3,600 organized crime groups have a main nationality, and that some operate in dozens of countries. A third are involved in more than one criminal enterprise, with half of those linked to drug-trafficking.
Authors
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James Spillane
(St. Augustine University of Tanzania)
Topic Areas
Topics: Wildlife, Tourism and Recreation , Topics: Human Wildlife Conflict
Session
OS-H4 » Understanding Social Dynamics to Address Conflict (08:30 - Wednesday, 13th January, Chui)
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