Nature Needs More report exposes a “Dirty Dozen” of countries as major hubs driving the legal and illegal wildlife trade, worth up to $20B a year, warning weak, outdated CITES controls enable illicit activity

It identifies a “Dirty Dozen” of priority countries including the Uk, US, India, Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, South Africa, Botswana, Panama, Colombia, Indonesia and New Zealand, as major drivers or weak points in the trade, citing high demand, poor enforcement, links to organised crime and money laundering, and systemic loopholes that allow millions of animals and plants to be traded with little traceability, while calling for urgent global adoption of electronic permitting to improve transparency, reduce corruption, and curb illicit exploitation…