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Yury Fedotov

Bella could be anyone. Bella could be a young girl named after the lead character in the popular Twilight movies, but she is not.
Bella is a northern white rhino in Uganda's Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary and she is every bit as popular as the Twilight character, only with all the wrong people.
No one wants to follow Bella on Facebook or Twitter, ring her name in bright lights, or shower her with awards; instead, poachers want her dead, so they can harvest her priceless rhino horn.
Today, there are fewer than six northern white rhinos left in the world. The largest of all rhinos is being driven towards oblivion despite desperate attempts to keep these animals alive. It is a similar story for other rhino species.
Two rhino subspecies, the western black rhino and the Vietnamese Javan rhino have been declared extinct and lost to us. In South Africa alone last year, over 1,200 rhinos were slaughtered by poachers.
The killing of elephants, tigers and other wildlife follows the same grisly pattern. As numbers decline, prices rise, creating additional demand, leading to increased poaching.
Many of these animals are locked into a downward extinction spiral. The bottom of the species barrel is being reached. Unless we act, animals like the rhino, on this planet for millions of years, will not survive for much longer.
The disappearance of these animals threatens an environmental catastrophe. But wildlife crime also has a tremendous human cost.
Destroying animals for their body parts is an international industry. It is similar in scale to illicit drugs and human trafficking and generates billions of dollars for the criminals.
Over 1,000 rangers have also been killed worldwide defending wildlife in the past 10 years, causing tremendous grief and economic loss to their families.
Corruption and money laundering also blossom from this crime, hindering development, as well as fuelling conflict and instability. Wildlife crime also destroys badly needed tourism in Africa and elsewhere. Empty savannahs, undisturbed watering holes and vast plains absent of these beautiful creatures will not keep the tourists returning to the safari trail in their dusty microbuses.
To prevent this outcome, action is needed on many fronts. Last year's London conference on illegal wildlife trade made a start and has given priceless momentum to the global fightback against the criminals, as well as welcome publicity.
Those who attended the conference agreed on a number of proposals, including the need for every country to criminalise poaching, wildlife trafficking and other related crimes.
The need for this is great. There are few disincentives to carry out this crime. It is seen as a low-risk crime that carries the potential for huge profits.
To undo this perception, countries need to increase not just the risk of detection, but also the likelihood that the guilty will face lengthy jail time.
The best way to achieve this is to classify these crimes as "serious crimes" by ensuring they attract prison sentences of four years or more.
This is the gateway to the operation of the Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime that helps countries develop better international cooperation and coordination in the fight against this crime.
March 3 is World Wildlife Day, a good day to acknowledge we are facing the fast disappearance of some of our most cherished animals.
Once dead, rhinos such as Bella will be lost to this planet forever. They will be left to haunt only our memories and fading photographs.
To avoid this, it's time to get serious about wildlife crime and the criminals who are sucking the lifeblood out of the animal kingdom.
Yury Fedotov is executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime


Make poachers pay a high price for slaughter of wildlife

The carcass of a rhino being prepared for post-mortem. In South Africa alone last year, over 1,200 rhinos were killed by poachers. Photo: EPA

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Yury Fedotov says too many species face extinction unless action is taken
