According to CITES, wildlife crime refers to the "taking, trading (supplying, selling or trafficking), importing, exporting, processing, possessing, obtaining and consumption of wild fauna and flora, including timber and other forest products, in contravention of national or international law.”

This publication uses the CITES definition of wildlife as “all wild fauna and flora, including animals, birds and fish, as well as timber and non-timber forest products”.

The term illegal wildlife trade (IWT) focuses on wildlife crimes committed for the primary purpose of illegal trade and extracting profit. IWT is the focus of this resource, since it has a significant impact on sustainable development, security and risk management in both the public and private sectors.

Environmental crime is a wider term encompassing all forestry and fisheries crimes, illegal mining, minerals trafficking, the trafficking or illegal dumping of hazardous materials, chemicals and waste, and the illegal wildlife trade. Crimes that harm the environment are sometimes called “green crimes”.

The main forms of financial crime covered in this publication are bribery and corruption, fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing, forgery and tax evasion.

An important additional focus is the use of legitimate businesses dealing with wildlife, such as zoos, import/export businesses or licensed breeding facilities, to “launder” illegally sourced wildlife into legal markets.