59 min
Episode 17 - An Interview With Andrea Crosta The Art Of Conservation
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- Nature
The vaquita is the world’s smallest and most endangered porpoise. With an estimated wild population of less than 10, it is arguably one of the most endangered animals on the planet.
In recent years, an estimated $100m has been spent by governments, NGO’s and conservation bodies to protect the species. Yet numbers have plummeted from several hundred ten years ago to the lows of today.
What is driving their imminent extinction?
They are little more than collateral damage in the persistent totoaba swim bladder trade, a delicacy in the east. Mexican cartels manage the poaching operations in the sea of Cortez, the vaquita’s last remaining habitat, while Chinese crime syndicates deliver the dried bladders to the east where it commands a price tag of over US$40 000 per kilogram.
Earth League International, lead by Andrea Crosta, recently achieved a massive result against these horrific odds. After gifting Mexican officials with sufficient evidence to bring the syndicates to book, they arrested several leaders in the poaching cartels.
A huge win no doubt, but the intelligence provided gave a route to the top – the Chinese syndicate bosses. But the arrests stopped at a local level. Why?
Andrea knows why, and I agree with him.
Environmental crime is treated as a conservation crisis, not the criminal enterprise it actually is.
This is part one of a discussion with Andrea about the need for a greater intelligence based approach to the global pandemic of wildlife crime.
To learn more, please watch the award winning documentary, Sea Of Shadows. It is an epic portrayal of Andrea and his team’s commitment to save the vaquita.
The vaquita is the world’s smallest and most endangered porpoise. With an estimated wild population of less than 10, it is arguably one of the most endangered animals on the planet.
In recent years, an estimated $100m has been spent by governments, NGO’s and conservation bodies to protect the species. Yet numbers have plummeted from several hundred ten years ago to the lows of today.
What is driving their imminent extinction?
They are little more than collateral damage in the persistent totoaba swim bladder trade, a delicacy in the east. Mexican cartels manage the poaching operations in the sea of Cortez, the vaquita’s last remaining habitat, while Chinese crime syndicates deliver the dried bladders to the east where it commands a price tag of over US$40 000 per kilogram.
Earth League International, lead by Andrea Crosta, recently achieved a massive result against these horrific odds. After gifting Mexican officials with sufficient evidence to bring the syndicates to book, they arrested several leaders in the poaching cartels.
A huge win no doubt, but the intelligence provided gave a route to the top – the Chinese syndicate bosses. But the arrests stopped at a local level. Why?
Andrea knows why, and I agree with him.
Environmental crime is treated as a conservation crisis, not the criminal enterprise it actually is.
This is part one of a discussion with Andrea about the need for a greater intelligence based approach to the global pandemic of wildlife crime.
To learn more, please watch the award winning documentary, Sea Of Shadows. It is an epic portrayal of Andrea and his team’s commitment to save the vaquita.
59 min