Study title

In the context of the "FloraGuard" project, we conducted interviews interested in the characteristics of the illegal wildlife (plant) market, actors involved, policing and plant recovery strategies in United Kingdom, and from a transnational perspective. Illegal commerce in plants and their derivatives threatens and destroys numerous species and important natural resources, and may cause phytosanitary and health problems. This illegal trade, which has been boosted by the commercialisation of the internet, has been relatively overlooked in criminology research. Furthermore, the policing of illegal plant markets remains limited and poorly resourced, with law enforcement agencies lacking awareness and technical capacity in investigation and prosecution services.Over the last 60 years, commerce in exotic wild plants increased in Western countries (Sajeva et al 2007). Alongside the legal trade in plants, the profitability of the market also boosted illegal markets. Wild plant crimes have long been a focus of concern mainly in conservation science. In criminology, while the illegal trade in wild animals (and animal parts eg ivory) is receiving increasing attention, the illegal trade in plants has so far been under-investigated. However, wild plant trafficking threatens and destroys numerous species and important natural resources (Herbig & Joubert 2006) and hinders the rule of law and security as profits are also used to finance other forms of trafficking (WWF 2016). The Internet has increased the illegal trade in wild plants, facilitating the encounter of supply and demand; no matter how highly specialised the market in certain wild plants, it is much easier to find potential buyers or sellers online than in the physical world (Lavorgna 2014a). There is consensus that the policing of such a criminal activity is still scarce and poorly resourced (Nurse 2011; Elliot 2012; Lavorgna 2014a; Lemieux 2014; Runhovde 2016). A major challenge is the fact that law...