Enterprise crime and commodity chains in the illegal wildlife trade

Lorraine Elliott

Chapter 7 in Transnational Environmental Crime, 2026, pp 122-147 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In this chapter, the focus turns to an investigation of how commodity supply chains and production networks in the illegal trade in wild fauna and flora work. It offers a deep dive into local activities including illegal harvesting, hunting, and theft. It examines the role of intermediaries responsible for accumulation and consolidation and for connecting suppliers with buyers and traders. The chapter sheds further light on the forms of production and processing that are central to many illegal wildlife markets. It explores transport and smuggling strategies and touches on the management of covert and overt selling in destination markets as the final stage in this stream of commerce. This analysis is overlaid with an examination of barriers to entry, situational opportunities, and supply and demand elasticity in trade and the ways that actors and commodities move across the apparent boundaries between licit and illicit economic spaces.

Keywords: Illegal Wildlife Trade; Wildlife Commodity Chains; Wildlife Poaching; Plant Hunting; Illegal E-commerce (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035374359
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