Quantifying the illegal high-value rosewood trade and criminal trade networks in the Greater Mekong Region

Illegal trade network patterns may be explained by geographic, economic and environmental factors, and may change over time. Rosewood is one of the most valuable taxa in the illegal and unregulated wildlife trade, and we focus on its trade in the Greater Mekong Region. Using media sourced seizure data, we firstly present an empirical depiction of the confiscations of rosewood throughout Thailand over a seven-year period (2013–2019) based on 2274 seizure reports; mapping geographic locations, trends over time, transport route within Thailand and import and export into other Greater Mekong Region countries. We test factors explaining seizure patterns using a Generalised Linear Model and conducted basic analysis on suspect data using suspect nationality. We find that geographically timber crimes occur throughout Thailand, but especially in border areas with Cambodia and Laos; the final destination in most cases appears to be China. Suspects are backed by complex criminal networks. Geographic factors were the strongest in determining hotspots of seizure activity suggesting timber trafficking occurred mostly in border provinces. Our findings provide general support for the argument that rosewood trade network is transnational in terms of sourcing and consumption as well as actors involved. It raises important questions about crimes against the environment and the importance of domestic legalisation and how international regulations are effective in the protection of rosewood species. More generally, our study illustrates the ways online sourced seizure data can be used to provide an initial quantitative assessment of the rosewood trade network patterns.