India’s Role in Global Wildlife Trade Networks
摘要
India occupies a crucial place in the global wildlife trade, functioning at once as a source, a transit corridor, and a consumer of numerous species and wildlife-derived products. While regulated trade in items such as medicinal plants, marine resources, and handcrafted goods sustains livelihoods, illegal trafficking continues to place severe pressure on tigers, pangolins, rhinos, red sanders, and a range of exotic birds and reptiles. This trade is fuelled by traditional practices, luxury demand, and a growing urban market, and is enabled by porous borders, corruption, and limited enforcement capacity. Trafficking networks connect India to Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, and China, with recent years seeing a shift toward online platforms, cryptocurrency payments, and dark web markets. Through case studies and trade records, this chapter identifies key species, major routes, and enforcement shortcomings, and proposes targeted measures to enhance monitoring, strengthen interagency collaboration, and raise public awareness to safeguard biodiversity.