ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Crackdown on Trafficking in Wildlife

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 1 1999 (IPS) - The arrest of several people caught trying to smuggle spiders, butterflies and snakes out of Brazil spotlighted the growing dimension of the traffic in biological entities in this country.

Now, Minister of the Environment Jose Sarney has launched a combined operation involving postal and airport administration officials and the Federal Police, which controls the borders, to crack down on this type of trafficking.

The smuggling of live animals from Brazil is big business, estimated to be worth about one billion dollars annually, according to Dener Giovaninni, who heads a non-governmental organisation that fights the illegal bio-traffickers.

The Internet has contributed to facilitating and expanding the international market in wild animals and genetic material in general, as has the efficiency and speed of postal services, he said.

Giovaninni says thjat to fight against animal smuggling, the state should incorporate the tactics used to combat narco- traffickers, such as deploying dogs trained to sniff out live creatures.

Concerns over bio-trafficking have heightened since the Brazilian Institute of the Environment (IBAMA) seized 90 “cangrejeras” spiders – a large, hairy variety – at the start of this month in the airport serving Recife, a big city in the country’s northeast.

Keila Marinho was carrying the spiders in small boxes in her handbag, to Switzerland. After her arrest, she revealed the name of the Swiss citizen who was paying her 80 dollars a spider to transport them from Santarem, in the Amazon region.

So-called “bio-piracy” provides an opportunity for huge profits because some rare species fetch up to 10,000 dollars in wealthy countries, according to a report by IBAMA that was published in the newspaper O Estado de Sao Paolo.

Trappers of animals and insects in the Santarem region are usually paid a couple of dollars by the smugglers for these species, which are so valuable abroad.

In addition, there is no great risk involved under present legislation. Keila Marinho was detained for just three hours, as were six Germans and five Dutch citizens who were surprised in the act of preparing ornamental fish and plants for smuggling. All were sent home after paying a small fine.

But that is just one aspect of the illegal trade which has drawn increased attention from the police. Brazil also allows a large quantity of its biodiversity to legally exit the country under the guise of scientific accords, says William Guimaraes Gama, an analyst at the National Institute of Amazon Research (INPA).

Research projects act as a cover for illicit shipments of genetic material that are uncontrolled and in unjustifiably large amounts. And foreigners cannot be accused of stealing because it is Brazil that offers these “biological freebies,” Gama said.

Gama’s charges are contained in a thesis, in which he analysed the Project of the Dynamic Biology of Forest Fragments in Brazil’s Amazon region, a 20-year effort that was most recently financed by the Agency for International Development of the United States.

The project, in a deal with INPA, authorised hundreds of overseas shipments of seeds, insects, animals and botanical material without registration of their destination or use.

Brazil’s rich biological diversity “is thus being given away, without any compensation or benefits for the country,” lamented Gama, citing in particular various agreements to inventory the flora and fauna of the Amazon as excellent covers for smuggling.

The scant development of national scientific research is also responsible for the situation, he added.

Brazil needs to value its biodiversity more, and learn how to better negotiate these types of deals, because “there is no such thing as disinterested help” in that area of international relations, Gamma concluded