Thirty-one governments from countries, including South Africa, the UK and China, agreed in a conference in Botswana last month to amend legislation so that wildlife trade crimes would be recognised as predicate offences. This means these offences would be considered as ‘money laundering’, which in turn would make them easier to prosecute.

“We will ensure that criminals involved in the illegal wildlife trade do not benefit from the proceeds of their crimes. We will pursue serious and organised criminal networks involved in the illegal wildlife trade,” the governments said in a statement.

Environmental organisations around the world have welcomed the announcement, saying it is a “huge and innovative step” forward.

Carlos Drews, WWF Director Global Species Programme, said in a statement: “Wildlife criminals have been reaping big profits for very little risk for too many years but the commitments agreed to in London, and now Kasane, could change the game by drastically increasing the risks for traffickers while also reducing their rewards.”

However, the conference also highlighted ‘broken promises’ of several countries, which 13 months ago committed to combat illegal wildlife trade by signing the London Declaration but didn’t deliver on their commitments.

“It is appalling that countries such as Chad, Cameroon and Democratic Republic of Congo, with elephant populations under extreme threat from poaching for their ivory, can’t show any headway whatsoever in slowing the slaughter,” said Jason Bell, Director of the IFAW Elephant Programme in a statement.

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Bell added that only minimal attention was given to the issue of addressing demand. “China was in the room and reported back on the action they have taken to enhance domestic enforcement efforts but not much was said about necessary action to address demand. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, if we don’t deal with demand in China, the battle for elephants in Africa will be lost. It is just a matter of time.”