Growing, growing, gone: safeguarding SA’s illegally traded succulents
International demand for succulents is driving rampant harvesting and trade, and some species now face extinction.
South Africa’s Succulent Karoo is home to flora that occur nowhere else on earth. But a rapidly escalating onslaught by criminal networks threatens many of these rare species.
This webinar will showcase insights from a new ENACT report that explores the illegal market for ornamental succulents, focusing on South Africa’s multistakeholder efforts to counter the trade. Speakers will highlight key challenges and opportunities, and put forward recommendations to improve responses. These lessons will offer valuable insights into safeguarding plants from illegal trade in South Africa and across the globe.
Moderator: Dr Willis Okumu, Senior Researcher for East Africa, ENACT, ISS Nairobi
Opening remarks: Elisabet Dahlberg Frisk, Representative, EU delegation to South Africa
Speakers:
- Dr Carina Bruwer, Senior Researcher for Southern Africa, ENACT, ISS Pretoria
- Dominique Prinsloo, Project Manager, TRAFFIC Southern Africa
- Dr Carina Becker-Du Toit, Scientific Coordinator: Succulent Plant Poaching Response, South African National Biodiversity Institute/World Wide Fund for Nature, South Africa
- Advocate Aradhana Heeramun, Senior State Advocate, Organised Crime Component, National Prosecuting Authority, South Africa
