Rangers in Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a UNESCO World Heritage site where the Lord's Resistance Army has aggressively poached elephants for funding. By Jonathan Hutson/Enough Project
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For example, the World Bank announced earlier this year that it was concerned with the trade's human toll.In a blog post, the World Bank's Valerie Hickey wrote, "Wildlife crime is leading to the proliferation of guns in exactly those areas that need less conflict, not more; it is providing money for corruption, in exactly those countries in which corruption has already stalled all pro-poor decision-making and doing business legitimately is already hard enough; and it is oiling the engine of crime and polluting efforts at good governance, democracy and transparency in exactly those communities that need more voice, not more silence."Even if you don't give a hoot about existential threats to rapidly-disappearing animals and wild lands, wildlife trafficking has become too big, and too crime-ridden, to ignore.
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A ranger in Chad looks over the carcass of an elephant killed by poachers. Armed with small arms like AK-47s, rangers in central Africa are regularly outgunned by militant groups dominating ivory poaching. Photo: Darren Potgieter/CITES/UNEP
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