The illegal wildlife trade is one of the largest international illicit markets, generating an estimated USD 7 to 23 billion annually. It causes serious harm at multiple levels: threatening biodiversity, undermining ecosystems, putting human health at risk, and damaging local livelihoods and national economies. It is also a crime that depends heavily on global transport networks, and airports sit at the center of those networks.
Wildlife traffickers exploit the aviation system precisely because of its scale and complexity. Cargo flows, passenger baggage, and transit routes all create opportunities that, without trained and vigilant airport staff, can go undetected. That is why the role airports play in combatting this trade is so significant, and why building awareness across the workforce matters.
The Industry's Commitment
The 26th ACI World General Assembly in 2016 formalized the commitment of airports to address this issue, through the signing of the United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce Buckingham Palace Declaration and support for the Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species (ROUTES) Partnership, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). That commitment reflects a recognition that airports are not passive conduits for illegal trade. They are active participants in the effort to stop it.
About the Combatting Wildlife Trafficking Course
The Combatting Wildlife Trafficking course gives airport professionals a clear and practical understanding of how wildlife trafficking happens, what it looks like in an airport context, and what tools and reporting mechanisms are available to help stop it.
Learners will gain an understanding of:
- Why wildlife is traded and what drives demand
- The laws and regulations which govern the international trade in wildlife
- The magnitude and broader impacts of the illegal wildlife trade
- How and why the aviation network is exploited by wildlife traffickers
- The role airports play in detecting and disrupting trafficking activity
- How airport and stakeholder staff can identify signs of wildlife trafficking
- The importance of reporting procedures and how to use them
- How tip-offs from airport staff have led directly to successful wildlife seizures
- Actions taken by other airports around the world to address this issue
Who Should Enrol
This course is relevant to a wide range of airport personnel, not just those in security or customs-adjacent roles. Wildlife traffickers are opportunistic and adaptable, which means detection can happen at almost any point across the airport environment.
The course is designed for all airport personnel, including airside, terminal, and landside staff at both ground level and supervisory or management level. It is also well suited to personnel from airlines, ground handlers, concessionaires, and other stakeholders that operate within the airport, again at all levels of seniority.
Anyone who moves through or works within the airport environment has a potential role to play in identifying and reporting suspicious activity. Giving that broader workforce the knowledge and confidence to act on what they observe is one of the most practical steps an airport can take.
Explore the Combatting Wildlife Trafficking course and the full Klayo catalogue of ACI-accredited environment and security programs.