Rampant plant poaching threatens SA’s biodiversity
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SA’s rare and endangered succulents, some hundreds of years old and growing only on specific mountain slopes, are being wiped out by poachers.
Plant poaching, warns World Wildlife Fund SA (WWF SA), as well as private nursery owners and collectors, have exploded in the country since January, with international organised crime syndicates involved.
Botanists and environmentalists warn that while poaching syndicates, which are linked to plant collectors in Thailand, China, Taiwan and South Korea, in the past targeted limited but very specific plants, they now target hundreds of succulent, aloe and cycad varieties.
Plant poaching, warns World Wildlife Fund SA (WWF SA), as well as private nursery owners and collectors, have exploded in the country since January, with international organised crime syndicates involved.
Botanists and environmentalists warn that while poaching syndicates, which are linked to plant collectors in Thailand, China, Taiwan and South Korea, in the past targeted limited but very specific plants, they now target hundreds of succulent, aloe and cycad varieties.
