{
  "id": 1732951,
  "title": "More than 2.5-million succulents seized from poachers",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/more-than-2-5-million-succulents-seized-from-poachers",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-18T15:00:52.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "GroundUp",
    "slug": "groundup",
    "url": "https://groundup.org.za/article/more-than-25-million-succulents-seized-from-poachers/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Between 2018 and the present, roughly 2.5 million illegally harvested succulent plants have been confiscated by authorities in South Africa's Western Cape, according to CapeNature. This figure represents only a fraction of the total poached succulents, as the organization noted at a meeting of the provincial standing committee for environmental affairs. CapeNature, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) and TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring group, presented their findings to the committee. TRAFFIC's data indicates a rise in succulent poaching since 2019, with millions of these plants being taken illegally from the Northern and Western Cape's Succulent Karoo region, a biodiversity hotspot home to over 2,000 endemic plant species. The primary markets for these poached succulents are China, South Korea, Japan, and Germany. Most poaching occurs in the Northern Cape, where the plants are then transported to the Western Cape, according to DFFE's chief director for enforcement, Frances Craigie. In the first half of 2026, nearly 376,000 plants were seized in 26 incidents, mostly in the Western Cape. Craigie explained that policing in the Western Cape is more robust, and informer networks are more effective compared to the Northern Cape, which suffers from significant capacity constraints. David Newton, TRAFFIC's program office director for Southern and East Africa, emphasized that poaching is not merely an environmental crisis but also a socio-ecological issue, intertwining biodiversity loss, rural poverty, and organized crime. Field research by TRAFFIC revealed that local harvesters are often impoverished and that unemployment is a key motivator for poaching activities. Poachers can earn between R10 and R150 per plant, with some reporting earnings surpassing R10,000 during a five-day collecting trip. Newton stressed that to combat the illegal trade, alternative livelihoods must be provided to locals. According to CapeNature's Deon Hignett, flora crime now accounts for more than half of the organization's crime investigations. He stressed that the problem is far more widespread than many realize, with several Conophytum species and subspecies already extinct in the wild, and many more at risk of extinction. Hignett recommended enhancing enforcement efforts, improving storage facilities for seized plants to ensure their survival, and providing environmental crime training for the South African Police Service, prosecutors, and magistrates. He also proposed reviving the \"green court,\" an environmental court that previously prosecuted several abalone cases in the early 2000s. \"If we lose these species, we lose them forever,\" Hignett cautioned. Following the presentations, the standing committee convened a confidential meeting \"due to the sensitive nature of issues that may be raised,\" stated standing chairperson Dave Bryant.",
  "summary": "But this is probably less than a quarter of the illegal trade, CapeNature says",
  "key_points": [
    "Over 2.5 million succulents seized in South Africa's Western Cape since 2018",
    "Poaching of succulents rises since 2019, primarily in Northern Cape",
    "Alternative livelihoods and enforcement efforts proposed to combat poaching"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}