Sustainable Tourism and Illegal Wildlife Trafficking: A Malaysian Legal Perspective

Abstract

Malaysia is endowed with many natural wonders for many tourism activities. The wildlife of Malaysia is some of the most diverse on earth. However, illegal wildlife trafficking has clear impact on sustainable tourism. No country is untouched from this immoral activity. Not even Malaysia. According to Global Financial Integrity (GFI), wildlife trafficking generates an estimated USD5 to 23 billion in revenues each year. GFI argues that the retail profits for some wildlife products can be equal to or even greater than the equivalent amount of cocaine or heroin, yet the legal penalties are considerably more lenient. Furthermore, it is a known fact that profits from the wildlife trafficking finance corruption, violence, and instability. The aim of this paper is to briefly discuss the tourism industry in Malaysia and the pernicious impact of the illegal wildlife trade and its direct role in destabilising sustainable tourism. Using the qualitative approach, the authors identify the ugliness of poaching trades on the beauty of nature and how wildlife trafficking by criminals posing as innocent tourists benefits more from poor infrastructure, weak rule of law, poor regulatory capacity, and higher level of corruption. The paper ends with recommendations on how to improve current efforts by the Malaysian government to boost sustainable tourism and halting the illicit wildlife trade which is an urgent issue, not just to prevent irretrievable species loss, ecosystems collapse, and dangerous disease spread but for development and security as well.