Illegal wildlife trafficking has often been considered as low priority within law enforcement and prosecutions of illegal wildlife traffickers are, as a result, relatively rare. The rare law enforcement causes organized crime to become heavily involved in illegal wildlife trafficking (Clark, 2008). This involvement is further strengthened by the government corruption that appears around the illegal wildlife trafficking. This is a problem that not only occurs within Vietnam, but it appears in countries all over the world. An example of corruption around the illegal wildlife trafficking is Tanzania, where an Indonesian ambassador was caught trafficking over one hundred tusks across the borders (Brookes, 2006).
Vietnam has, due to all these difficulties, been having a hard time dealing with the illegal wildlife trade. They joined CITES, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, in 1994, which is an international agreement between governments. CITES was agreed between 80 countries in 1973 and came into force on 1 july 1975, there are currently 176 parties (Aylin, 2012). CITES aims to create an international cooperation in which the distinction of wild animals and plants should be protected. It is subjecting international trade in specimens of selected species to certain controls. Import, export, re-export and introduction that the CITES covered, has to be authorized through a system checking their licenses. The species that are covered by CITES are listed in three different appendixes, according to the endangerment of the species (https://www.cites.org/).
Vietnam tries to decrease the international wildlife trade by implementing wildlife trade policies. These protection policies are divided into two parts: on one side the domestic implementation, consumption and trade and on the other side the international wildlife trade (CITES, 2008). Domestic wildlife exploitation and trade has been mainly regulated by Decree No.32/2006/NĐ-CP (2006). This decree contains, among other things, a list of endangered, precious and rare forest plants and animals. These groups are divided into two groups, which have a minor difference. The first group consist of the forest plants and animals of high economic, scientific or environmental value. Those which are strictly banned from exploitation and use for commercial purpose and that have a high danger of extinction.
The second group consists, again, of forest plants and animals of high economic, scientific or environmental value. Those which are restricted from exploitation or use for commercial purpose and that have a high danger of extinction. So the difference lies within the fact whether the exploitation and use for commercial purpose is strictly banned or whether it is restricted (FAOLEX, 2006).This decree is more practical and better implemented than previous degrees, but it still faces many difficulties; coming from the lack of material, money and because of confusion. The lack of material causes identification problems of the protected species or their products, there is no guidance for the rescue and release of live species of confiscated wildlife because of the lack of money and overlapping between decrees causes lots of confusion among different authorities. These kind of problems make it hard to implement the degree.
The second part ot the protection policies, the international wildlife trade, is regulated under three documents, Decree No.11/2002/NĐ-CP, Decree No.59/2005/NĐ-CP and Decree No.82/2002/NĐ-CP. Decree No.11/2002/ND-CP was Vietnam’s first policy instrument on wildlife trade. The decree had to make sure that the requirements stated by CITES, concerning the international endangered wildlife trade, were getting implemented. All captive breeding and artificial propagation farms were registered and supervised under CITES after the implementation of the Decree. Some problems occurred during the implementation of this Decree. There seemed to be an overlap between this decree and another decree; this made it hard to understand which agencies should proceed in certain cases (CITES, 2008).
Decree No.59/2006/ND-CP was mainly focused on fishery-related issues, compiled by the Ministry of Fishery. The decree tries to manage the export of endangered aquatic species; it states which species are banned from business in order to fight against the unsustainable trade. Nevertheless, complications occurred during the implementation of this decree. Some of the endangered species that were listed in the decree were already mentioned in another decree. This multiple occurrence made it unclear which authority had to manage these issues. Management has not been the only implementation difficulty, the other one was identification. Some law enforcement agencies find it hard to identify fishery species and products, and they asked for manuals in order to help them with their identification (CITES, 2008).
Decree No.82/2002/ND-CP was issued in order to cover the holes that appeared in Decree No.11/2002/ND-CP. This decree should provide more guidance around the registration and management of the endangered species. It aims to clarify the respective responsibilities of CITES authorities (FAOLEX, 2006 August). Difficulties during the implementation of this Decree still appeared, despite to the attempt to make it more clear. It proved to be almost impossible to manage the wildlife trade and to penalize the illegal trade (CITES, 2008).
It is very difficult, as stated in the text above, to implement the different policies that Vietnam has adopted. Management and the preservation of the threatened wildlife in Vietnam should get strengthened by these policies. Nevertheless,
Conclusion