Written by rjs, MarketWatch 666This is a collection of interesting news articles about the environment and related topics published last week. This is usually a Tuesday evening regular post at GEI (but can be posted at other times).
by Tyler Durden
Saturday, May 22, 2021 - 08:00 PM
Some of the world s rarest cacti are found in the deserts of South America. A recent raid in Italy uncovered a smuggling network of thorny succulents, according to NYTimes.
The year s long operation, dubbed Operation Atacama, was a collaborative effort that began in February 2020 by Italian and Chilean authorities to return some of the rarest cacti to Chile.
Andrea Cattabriga, a cactus expert and president of the Association for Biodiversity and Conservation, told NYT that Operation Atacama was absolutely stunning when 1,000 of some of the world s rarest cacti (all from Chile) were seized in Italy.
Illegal Cactus Trafficking Threatens Hundreds Of Species With Extinction
by : Daniel Richardson on : 22 May 2021 13:33
PA Images
The trafficking of illegal cacti is a serious issue that threatens hundreds of species with extinction.
Not many people realise cactus trafficking is a million dollar market that threatens biodiversity. However, this is the issue that cactus expert and president of the Association for Biodiversity and Conservation, Andrea Cattabriga, frequently addresses.
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In February 2020, Cattabriga was involved in a bust carried out in Italy. In this recovery of cacti, the authorities found more than 1,000 plants with a value exceeding $1.2 million. This has highlighted the dangers trafficking presents to biodiversity.
updated: May 21 2021, 14:34 ist
Andrea Cattabriga has seen a lot of cactuses where they didn’t belong. But he’d never seen anything like Operation Atacama, a bust carried out last year in Italy. A cactus expert and president of the Association for Biodiversity and Conservation, Cattabriga often helps the police identify the odd specimen seized from tourists or intercepted in the post.
This time, however, Cattabriga was confronted by a stunning display: more than 1,000 of some of the world’s rarest cactuses, valued at over $1.2 million on the black market.
Almost all of the protected plants had come from Chile, which does not legally export them, and some were well over a century old. The operation which occurred in February 2020, but is being made public now because of the cactuses’ recent return to Chile was most likely the biggest international cactus seizure in nearly three decades. It also highlights how much money traffickers may be earning from the trade.