Published
Video length: 4 min
Plants: an illegal international traffic
The trafficking of succulents particularly concerns plants and cacti from desert areas, many of which are protected at international level.
(France 2)
The trafficking of succulents particularly concerns plants and cacti from desert areas, many of which are protected at international level.
Emblems of the natural parks of Madagascar, Mexico, the Arizona desert. Wild plants have become the target of traffickers ready to tear them from their natural environment to resell them at high prices. Result: endangered species and an ecological disaster. How did France become a hub of this traffic with record seizures?
The location is kept secret. It is forbidden to the public. The hospital of the Natural History Museum houses hundreds of plants rescued from trafficking. Some are worth several thousand euros. One of the latest seizures by French customs. On the black market, the oldest specimens from this seizure sell for up to 400 euros. They have traveled thousands of kilometers before arriving here, sometimes in poor condition. These succulents are poached in the United States, South America and Africa. They transit through France and are then shipped to Asia.
