A criminal justice response to address the illegal trade of wildlife in Indonesia

The global illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is a multibillion dollar annual trade that threatens numerous species. Understanding ways to improve the law enforcement response is an essential component in addressing this trade. Yet, quantifying the impacts of such conservation measures is often hindered by a lack of long-term and reliable datasets. Here, we evaluate a 15-year multistakeholder collaboration that aimed to detect, report, and robustly respond to IWT across the vast Indonesian archipelago. Our results demonstrate the performance of site-based monitoring networks in reliably reporting a widespread IWT of hundreds of nationally protected species. It revealed highly responsive government law enforcement agencies, high prosecution and conviction rates, and increasing penal sanctions over time, which significantly differed by province, year of arrest, and the number of unique protected species seized in a case. From these results, we formulate management recommendations for key agencies working in the criminal justice system.