A unique poaching crisis takes root in South Africa

When you think of “wildlife trafficking,” you probably think of exotic animal products — ivory, rhino horns, shark fins.

You probably don’t think of succulents.

Yet these unique plant species have been at the center of a growing poaching problem.

An arid region along South Africa’s western coast — the aptly named Succulent Karoo — is home to a veritable endlessness of small succulent species found nowhere else on Earth. Heightened interest in the area and its remarkable flora is now threatening the very existence of these tiny, humble plants, Adam Welz reports in YaleEnvironment360:

From a car window, the Succulent Karoo can appear drab and barren. But get down on your hands and knees, and it transforms into a wonderland of living treasures — a wonderland that has in the last six years become the target of transnational smuggling networks focused on its unique flora. Millions of plants have been illegally dug from this area, resulting in the functional extinction of at least eight species, with hundreds more species being pushed toward the same fate.

© John Martin

A flower field in Succulent Karoo.

There’s a reason: Due to the harsh environs they live in, succulents grow very slowly — it can take up to seven years for some plants to grow to a saleable size, Welz writes. Global interest in the plants — fed by social media and supercharged by the
houseplant craze of the COVID era — led to increased demand for already-mature plants.

The region already had criminal networks to move illicit diamonds, Welz writes, and it was not difficult for such groups to transition to a different product to smuggle.

Conservationists and law enforcement are working on the problem.

“We have been directly involved in efforts to stem the tide of poaching,” said Malinda Gardiner of Conservation South Africa (the local affiliate of Conservation International). For a recent project, Gardiner’s team developed community strategies to combat poaching, working with people in villages where succulent trafficking was high; this effort has informed South Africa’s national anti-poaching efforts, she said.

Yet solutions to the problem remain in short supply, Welz writes:

One reason, experts say, is that markets for particular plants can shift rapidly and are often poorly understood. Protection policies are often formulated on the basis of unsupported assumptions or too little data and implemented too late, after consumer demand and poaching has risen to harmful levels. Legal growers often can’t react to increased market demand in time, particularly for slow-growing species.

Time will tell if authorities can tackle the problem — or, as seems possible, if buyers’ interest in these singular succulents simply shifts to other plant species in time.

Read the story here.

Bruno Vander Velde is the managing director of storytelling at Conservation International. Want to read more stories like this? Sign up for email updates. Also, please consider supporting our critical work.