A cacti-smuggling case with a prickly end: the novel way courts are making poachers pay | Conservation
CHile’s Atacama is one of the most drought on earth, and it is an amazing cold environment, and absorbs a clean moisture from the cold ocean to the west. This arid golden scene is home to many rare species of aloe vera, which attract professional and amateur botanisms from all over the world keen to discover discoveries and experience suspense in naming new species.
But they are not the only ones to wander in the sand: Atakama has become a hot point of smuggling.
Parallel market in plants Grow Aloe vera is high in demand. It is a profitable trade across the border. It can sell individual samples – especially those that are visually attractive or interesting – for tens of thousands of dollars.
But trade has a major negative impact on biological diversity, and the limits of the new legal approach to memorization have become: prosecuting criminals not only for smuggling, but to restore the broader damage they made to ecosystems.
In February, Andrea Baymobiti and Matia Christine were convicted of importing and exporting aloe vera by Ancona Prosecutor in Italy. They were awarded a suspended sentence for 18 months in prison and a fine of 25,000 euros (21,000 pounds); One year in prison and a fine of 18,000 euros, respectively.
They followed their conviction a A wide -scale investigation In 2021 – the Atakama Operation – during which the aloe law enforcement agencies were discovered in Eiiosyce and Copiapoa Rans in an ancona house and follow them again to Chile. These specifically threatened species are searched by plural enthusiasts.
The two men published aloe vera from Chile to the contacts in Greece and Romania, who redirect the packages to Italy. The intention was to sell plants to a network of buyers throughout Europe and Asia. They also illegally sold aloe vera to customers in the United States and Japan.
Pumpetty alone uprooted more than 900 cactus during repeated trips to the Atakama Desert. Piombetti and Crescentini cannot be contacted to comment.
These activities are illegal under Italian laws that apply the International Trade Agreement in endangered species of wild plants and animals (CITES), which aims to ensure that there is no wild species or remains subject to incompatible exploitation.
Cactus Andrea Catabriga expert, President Associazione Per La BIODIVERSITITà E LA Su Conferazione (ABC), says revenues in the Atakama desert that has already been threatened with climatic crises and mining, and overfishing overfishing these problems exacerbates.
In addition to harming certain types, illegal trade in aloe vera is destroyed by the broader ecosystem, including insects that depend on their flowers for nectar. “The collection of some samples can affect the types that may face extinction,” says Catabriga. “But every living form in the desert is important because it is a very selective environment where the biological diversity is very complex.”
Catabriga helped investigators to identify species and send them safely home to Chile.
Then he was involved in the legal case, and entered a civil claim alongside the criminal with the support of NGOs save Field. They argued that unjust fishing and smuggling ABC’s work in aloe vera, making it difficult to protect species in the wild and enhance sustainable legal production in the nurseries. This is legally known as “moral damage.”
The court approved this, and ordered criminals to pay 20,000 euros (16,000 pounds) to enhance its work in preservation, as well as legal costs. Catabriga said this will be used to finance aloe vera research projects, including some in Chile.
The case, part of a The increasing direction of litigation between biological diversityIt is one of the first successful claims of its kind. Conservatives all over the world hope that it will not be the last.
Blair Atwebembeire, an environmental lawyer in Uganda, explores similar lawsuits linking environmental and wildlife laws, to try to address overfish from Banglain – Most of the animals that are smuggled in the world. “Any treatment that sees a deeper solution that regains the environment is essential … rather than only looking at one animal killed or one tree that has been cut.”
Loveish Sharma, Legal Adviser to Wildlife India’s confidence and defender of the Supreme Court in Delhi, It tries to raise awareness of the current legal provisions in India that allows the parties to search for compensation for the damage to the environment.
He says there are some successful cases that involve wild boar hunting and deer, although the compensation was low. “The difficulty is how to attach the cash value to the species? It must be commensurate with the resulting damage. We are developing scientific reports that will be presented to judicial officers at the time of conviction, so that they have a better understanding of how to calculate the damage.”
The litigation in preservation, which is keen to support these claims, wants to place a strong precedent that people who harm the ecosystems can take responsibility for its recovery.
Dr. Jacob Phelps, Executive Director, Executive Director, Executive Director, Dr. Jacob Phelps, says the main investigator of the Lancaster University Governance Governance Laboratory. “It comes to taking action to recover.”
Rika Farbini, of the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law, says that Indonesia is one of the many countries that deal with violations of wildlife trade primarily through criminal punishment, “which fails to make the perpetrators bear the true cost of their crimes.”
“The Italian issue highlights that wildlife is also harmful to the environment – a situation that requires restoration, not just the punishment of the perpetrators,” says Farini.
