Malawi confirmed as S. Africa’s principal transit route for ivory traffickers

Malawi was confirmed as Southern Africa’s principal transit hub  for illegal ivory in a report presented at the CITES CoP17  held in Johannesberg this month.  

The ETIS data used in the report comprised of 24,636 elephant product seizure records, representing law enforcement actions in 98 countries or territories since 1989, and used cluster analysis to identify the ‘countries of primary concern’, based on the quantity of illegal ivory  in trade and the nature of the trade movements.  

This is the first time that Malawi has appeared in the list.  Indeed, Malawi has been linked to the world’s largest seizures, some of which are listed below.

The full report can be read here https://cites.org/sites/default/files/eng/cop/17/WorkingDocs/E-CoP17-57-06-R1.pdf  – see page 14 for the section on Malawi.