Launching a national stakeholder forum on wildlife protection and law enforcement on Wednesday, Minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta said wildlife trafficking has become a multi-billion-dollar criminal enterprise and that environmental crime has become the fourth-largest criminal sector worldwide, after drug trafficking, counterfeit crimes, and human trafficking. As a result he called for a reorganisation of the country’s combined forces and change of operation strategies, stressing that the involvement of organised crime in poaching and wildlife trafficking promotes corruption, threatens peace and national security and strengthens illicit trade routes.
