Biodiverse Continent: Animal Species and Wildlife Service

biodiverse continent: As the world's most biodiverse continent, home to roughly 40% of the world's plant and animal species, Latin America is a hub for the criminal trade, according to The Guardian. Wildlife trafficking is increasing in most countries in the region, including the conference's host, Peru, said the head of its forestry and wildlife service, Luis Alberto Gonzales-Zu iga. After drugs, guns and human trafficking, wildlife trafficking is the world's most lucrative organised crime with an annual value of around 20bn 16bn each year, according to a 2016 report by Interpol and the UN environment programme. It's not stalled, or declining, it's on the rise. Whether it is the trade in live wildlife or dead animals and their parts, the countries from which they originate need to take the crime more seriously, said Salvador Ortega, Interpol's head of forest crime for Latin America. It's a globalised business and it needs a globalised response, he told the Guardian. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.