PRACTICE OF ANIMALS TRADING IN ISLAMIC LAW & POSITIVE LAW OF BIOLOGICAL RESOURCES & ITS ECOSYSTEMS

Indonesia is a country that is very rich in the diversity of its natural resources. Both in terms of flora and fauna. However, Indonesia is an emerging country for the circulation of endangered animals that have been protected by law. The Animal Market is one of the places where several protected animals are circulated. In this study, the authors found a unique incident in the practice of buying and selling endangered animals that have been protected by this law, where the practice of buying and selling rare animals is carried out in markets managed by the government, namely under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. The focus of this research is to find out how the practice of buying and selling endangered animals in the Animal Market and how the review of Islamic law and Act No. 5 of 1990 concerning the Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and Their Ecosystems. Through qualitative research methods and through a juridical normative approach, the researcher tries to uncover the focus of the problem above by going directly to the field to find facts which then leads to an analysis of Islamic law and Act No. 5 of 1990 concerning Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and Their Ecosystems. Data were taken through documentation, observation, and interviews. The data that has been obtained is presented in the form of a description in order to obtain conclusions. The results of the study explain that the sale and purchase of endangered animals protected under Islamic law is a sale that does not bring benefits, contains najis, does not belong to the seller wholly, causes damage to nature, and contains fraud. Meanwhile, when viewed from Act No. 5 of 1990 concerning the Conservation of Natural Resources and Their Ecosystems, the practice of buying and selling endangered animals that are protected illegally is a criminal act of wildlife crime in which the legal consequences of this crime are a maximum criminal sanction of ten years in prison and a fine of between 100 million and IDR 200 million rupiahs.

Combination of Multiple Microsatellite Analysis and Genome-Wide SNP Genotyping Helps to Solve Wildlife Crime: A Case Study of Poaching of a Caucasian tur (Capra caucasica) in Russian Mountain National Park

Poaching is one of the major types of wildlife crime in Russia. Remnants of goats (presumably the wild endemic species, the Caucasian tur) were found in an area of the Caucasian mountains. The case study involves a suspected poacher whose vehicle was found to have two duffel bags containing pieces of a carcass, which he claimed was that of a goat from his flock. The aim of the forensic genetic analysis for this case was to (i) establish individual identity and (ii) perform species identification. DNA typing based on fourteen microsatellites revealed that STR-genotypes generated from pieces of evidence found at crime scene fully matched those obtained from the evidence seized from the suspect. The results of genome-wide SNP-genotyping, using Illumina Goat SNP50 BeadChip, provided evidence that the poached animal was a wild Caucasian tur (Capra caucasica). Thus, based on comprehensive molecular genetic analysis, evidence of poaching was obtained and sent to local authorities. To our knowledge, this case study is the first to attempt to use DNA chips in wildlife forensics of ungulates.

Understanding Wildlife Crime from Eco-Existential and African Perspectives: A Psycho-Philosophical Investigation

Wildlife crime has huge consequences regarding global environmental changes to animals, plants and the entire ecosystem. Combatting wildlife crime effectively requires a deep understanding of human–wildlife interactions and an analysis of the influencing factors. Conservation and green criminology are important in reducing wildlife crime, protecting wildlife and the ecosystem and informing policy-makers about best practices and strategies. However, the past years have shown that wildlife crime is not easy to combat and it is argued in this article that there are underlying existential “givens” and culture-specific aspects that need to be investigated to understand why wildlife crime is still on the rise. This theoretical article explores (eco-)existential perspectives, Greening’s four givens and selected African philosophical concepts, aiming to understand the complexities behind the prevalence of wildlife crime within global and African contexts.

The Status Quo and Attribution of Wildlife Crimes: A Study of Cases in China From the Perspective of Ecological Economic Ethics

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has ravaged the world, has led to a rethinking of the relationship between humans and nature and the clichés of the economic-centered model. Thus, the ecological economy has been reviewed, especially from an ethical worldview. This paper uses statistical methods to retrieve and categorize 3,646 wildlife crime cases for analysis and quantitative research. It adopts legal and ethical perspectives to analyze the subject and the subjective, incidence, and sentencing factors of wildlife crimes and uses the ecological economic ethical model to measure wildlife crimes. We argue that the existing judicial system fails to answer the difficulties of the economic ethics of wildlife crimes. It is recommended that ecological and economic ethical awareness be internalized. We suggest calling for comprehensive legislation on wildlife crimes from the perspective of ecological economic ethics to effectively prevent and reduce wildlife crime and eventually promote public health.

Protected Area Rangers as Cultural Brokers? Implications for Wildlife Crime Prevention in Viet Nam

The scope, scale, and socio-environmental impacts of wildlife crime pose diverse risks to people, animals, and environments. With direct knowledge of the persistence and dynamics of wildlife crime, protected area rangers can be both an essential source of information on, and front-line authority for, preventing wildlife crime. Beyond patrol and crime scene data collected by rangers, solutions to wildlife crime could be better built off the knowledge and situational awareness of rangers, in particular rangers' relationships with local communities and their unique ability to engage them. Rangers are often embedded in the communities surrounding the conserved areas which they are charged with protecting, which presents both challenges and opportunities for their work on wildlife crime prevention. Cultural brokerage refers to the process by which intermediaries, like rangers, facilitate interactions between other relevant stakeholders that are separate yet proximate to one another, or that lack access to, or trust in, one another. Cultural brokers can function as gatekeepers, representatives, liaisons, coordinators, or iterant brokers; these forms vary by how information flows and how closely aligned the broker is to particular stakeholders. The objectives of this paper are to use the example of protected area rangers in Viet Nam to (a) characterize rangers' cultural brokerage of resources, information, and relationships and (b) discuss ranger-identified obstacles to the prevention of wildlife crime as an example of brokered knowledge. Using in-depth face-to-face interviews with rangers and other protected area staff (N = 31, 71% rangers) in Pu Mat National Park, 2018, we found that rangers regularly shift between forms of cultural brokerage. We offer a typology of the diverse forms of cultural brokerage that characterize rangers' relationships with communities and other stakeholders. We then discuss ranger-identified obstacles to wildlife protection as an example of brokered knowledge. These results have implications for designing interventions to address wildlife crime that both improve community-ranger interactions and increase the efficiency of wildlife crime prevention.

Women and wildlife crime: hidden offenders, protectors and victims

Gender is an explanatory factor in multiple dimensions of conservation, including women's access to and participation in conservation programmes, with gender bias in wildlife research persisting globally. There is reason to believe the current global wildlife crime crisis is no exception, with a lack of critical examination of gendered roles in security for biodiversity conservation. Despite the emergence of high-profile all-women ranger units (e.g. Akashinga in Zimbabwe) there has been a lack of systematic integration of gender within biodiversity protection. Theoretical and methodological applications from criminology have become progressively more common in response to an increase in a wide range of environmental crimes with consequences for women and their communities. Here we consider the implications of the lack of knowledge of women's direct and indirect roles in wildlife security. We used the criminology and conservation literature to identify key gaps in research, and relevant and robust typologies and frameworks informed by criminology to structure future research on women as offenders, protectors (handlers, managers, guardians) and victims of wildlife crime. We argue that more intentional research into the direct and indirect roles of women in wildlife crime is needed to address wildlife crime, protect biodiversity and support social justice in response to wildlife crimes.

Denunciafauna – A social media campaign to evaluate wildlife crime and law enforcement in Peru

General Public Complaint Against Captive Wildlife),in short Denunciafauna, ran from April 2014 to April 2017 as an experiment to empirically assess the capacity of Peruvian wildlife authorities to address animal trafficking. We used a political ecology activist research framework, where the campaign is part of research examining on-the-ground responses to complaints and opportunities for collaboration with civil society.During the campaign we collected information on 179 cases of wildlife crime involving animals, from which 214 official complaints were made. These cases involved thousands of illegally held and traded individuals. The official complaints included the illegal possession of animals at tourist attractions,in private homes, markets, circuses, street vendors, and as part of initiatives authorized by the State. Forty-four per cent of the complaints did not result in any type of intervention by the wildlife authorities. In a further 26% of cases we, the complainants, have not been informed of the results of the complaint. Thirty per cent of complaints resulted in the confiscation of all or some of the animals involved, but only 7% of all reported cases led to an official investigation by the public prosecutor, and of these, only 3% (7cases) resulted in a court appearance with a sentence given or pending. We describe 'typical' cases which illustrate some of the quantitative results.These quantitative results, cases presented, and participative observation methodologies were used to examine the main limitations of wildlife authorities in Peru. Chronic deficiencies have consistently resulted in the very limited responses of Peruvian wildlife authorities to attend to official complaints and their inability to provide efficient and proportionate responses to wildlife crime, and, in some cases, to even promote or participate in illicit activities. However, pressure and support from civil society can significantly improve authorities' performances.