Wildlife crime linked to the Internet

The growth of the Internet increasingly facilitates communication and commerce between individuals and institutions at a global scale. The Internet has become a prime outlet to advertise and arrange sales, including of wildlife specimens, both legally and illegally.

In the light of the growing role of the Internet, it is important that Parties implement and strengthen measures at national level to effectively regulate legal trade in wildlife online, and to tackle wildlife crime linked to Internet. Domestic measures should constantly be evaluated to ensure that they are sufficient, remain effective and are quickly adapted to respond to any newly identified trends.  

 Wildlife crime linked to the Internet is defined in the CITES Glossary as: Crime involving any wildlife specimen, enabled or facilitated by the use of information and communication technology networks or any application in the digital world, including inter alia the public (clear) web, the dark web, online marketplaces, social network platforms, instant chat applications, peer to peer networks or email services.

Resolutions and Decisions

Documents and Notifications

  • No. 2022/075 (issued 19/10/2022) on Wildlife crime linked to the Internet

Measures and activities implemented to address wildlife crime linked to the Internet

The information contained in the documents available through the links below has been compiled by the CITES Secretariat in accordance with the provisions of Decision 18.84, paragraph b), and represent a summary of the information received from Parties, the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) partner organizations and other relevant organizations and experts, up to August 2021.