Authorities in South Africa’s Western Cape have seized approximately 2.5 million illegally harvested succulent plants since 2018, but CapeNature officials told the provincial parliament on Tuesday that this figure likely represents less than a quarter of the total number poached.
The disclosure came during a joint presentation to the provincial standing committee for environmental affairs by CapeNature, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), and TRAFFIC, the wildlife Trade monitoring network. The session formed part of efforts to coordinate a response to escalating flora crime.
Data from TRAFFIC indicates a sharp rise in succulent poaching since 2019. Millions of plants have been illegally harvested in the Succulent Karoo region spanning the Northern and Western Cape, a globally recognised biodiversity hotspot home to more than 2,000 endemic species. The plants are trafficked to markets in China, South Korea, Japan and Germany.
Frances Craigie, DFFE chief director for enforcement, said most poaching occurs in the Northern Cape, with plants transported to the Western Cape. Between January and June this year, nearly 376,000 plants were seized in 26 incidents, predominantly in the Western Cape. Craigie attributed the higher seizure rate there to more active policing and better informer networks, noting that the Northern Cape faces serious capacity constraints.
David Newton, TRAFFIC programme office director for Southern and East Africa, described the crisis as “socio-ecological,” linking biodiversity loss, rural poverty and organised crime. Fieldwork by TRAFFIC found that local harvesters are often impoverished residents of rural communities who cite unemployment as a primary driver. Poachers receive between R10 and R150 per plant, with some earning more than R10,000 over a five-day collecting trip.
“If we want to cut this illegal trade, we have to offer people a transformative or sustainable alternative,” Newton said.
Deon Hignett of CapeNature said flora crime now accounts for more than half of the organisation’s investigations. “The scale of the problem is much larger than many people realise,” he said.
Several Conophytum species and subspecies are now extinct in the wild, with many more at risk. While early poaching targeted Conophytum, syndicates have diversified into other endemic genera such as Euphorbia and Gibbaeum.
In the short term, Hignett recommended strengthening enforcement, improving storage facilities for seized plants to ensure their survival, and providing biodiversity crime training for the South African Police Service, prosecutors and magistrates. He also proposed reviving the “green court,” a specialised environmental court that prosecuted abalone cases in the early 2000s.
“If we lose these species, we lose them forever,” Hignett said.
Following the presentations, the standing committee entered a confidential session due to the sensitive nature of the issues raised, according to chairperson Dave Bryant.
