How COVID-19 is Impacting the Africa-Asia Wildlife Trade

Amid the shutdowns in both Asia and Africa due to the COVID-19 outbreak there've been serious disruptions to the illegal wildlife trade between the two continents. But even though it's been harder to get African wildlife products to markets in China, Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia, the pace of killing has actually gone up by some estimates. Park rangers who've been on the front lines battling against poachers have been forced to remain in the barracks due to the pandemic, providing organized crime syndicates with unfettered access to pangolins, rhinos and elephant populations among other animals. James Compton, senior director for Asia-Pacific for the international wildlife conservation group TRAFFIC, closely follows the trade from Southeast Asia. He joins Eric & Cobus from Vietnam to discuss why the pandemic provides critical motivation for Asian governments to finally crackdown on illicit trafficking of both animals and animal parts. JOIN THE DISCUSSION: Facebook: www.facebook.com/ChinaAfricaProject Twitter: @eolander | @stadenesque | @traffic_wltrade SUBSCRIBE TO THE CAP'S DAILY EMAIL NEWSLETTER FOR JUST $3 FOR 3 MONTHS. Your subscription supports independent journalism. Subscribers get the following: 1. A daily email newsletter of the top China-Africa news. 2. Access to the China-Africa Experts Network 3. Unlimited access to the CAP's exclusive analysis content on chinaafricaproject.com Try it out for just $3 for 3 months: www.chinaafricaproject.com/subscribe