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growth will render these unofficial crossings, and the routes they serve, increasingly accessible.
(3) Digital platforms increasingly used for interaction in Mesoamerica A notable increase in information about il- legal wildlife trade is reaching citizens inMesoamerica, par- ticularly through platforms such as Facebook,WhatsApp and Twitter. Facebook reports 40 million active users per month across the region (Facebook, 2017). The growing use of these online forums has increased exposure of illegal wildlife trade, providing citizens with the opportunity to report and advo- cate againstwildlife crimes. The challenge will be to use social media to promote more action from citizens and responses from enforcement authorities to address illegal wildlife trade. Conversely, the availability and widespread use of these platforms will probably continue to support the sale of wildlife species through an online black market.
(4) High value tropical timbers face growing levels of exploita- tion Timber has been unsustainably exploited through- out Mesoamerica to meet the growing global demand for precious hardwoods for furniture and musical instruments. This high demand promotes a black market for certain tree species. Controls placed on species listed as threatened in the IUCN Red List and/or listed under CITES may have diversified demand to other timber species that could sub- sequently become threatened. For example, there has been a notable increase in demand for rosewood species (Vaglica, 2016) such as cocobolo Dalbergia retusa, which has added to existing pressures on hardwood species. An increasingly varied range of timber species may be unsustainably ex- ploited and require protection.
(5) Rare and newly identified species of amphibians and rep- tiles increasingly targeted by pet traders and collectors Market demand has continued and increased for New World species, which includes all Mesoamerican reptiles and amphibians. There is high demand for lizards (Abronia spp., Ctenosaura spp., Heloderma spp.) from Guatemala and Mexico, and for frogs and toads (e.g. Dendrobatidae spp., Atelopus spp., Agalychnis spp., Centrolenidae spp.) from Panama and Costa Rica. Newly discovered, rare and re- stricted-range species are most at risk of extinction (Auliya et al., 2016) as a result of increasing demand from domestic and international markets (Altherr et al., 2016). Amphibians and reptiles seized abroad (mainly in the USA and Europe) generally end up in foreign collections and are not returned to their countries of origin. The region is particularly vulner- able to illegal wildlife trade given the large numbers of known species (.1,200 reptile and amphibian species included in the IUCN Red List, 2018), the limited capacity to implement regulations for the 32 CITES-listed species (CITES, 2019) and the regularity with which new species are discovered.
(6) International demand for wild meat and traditional medicine threatening marine species There is a growing international demand for products used in Traditional Asian Medicine and as seafood. Marine species that were historically rarely targeted in Mesoamerican waters, such as glass eels and sea cucumbers, are now being harvested unsustainably and illegally, particularly for the Asian market, where these species are highly valued. The fact that closed seasons are not synchronised or established in neighbouring countries, for example in the case of sea cucumbers in Mexico and Belize, makes it difficult to apply controls and opens opportunities for illegal practices. The lack of historical data on the population and harvesting of these species in the region renders monitoring and evaluation, and thus the set- ting of sustainable catch limits, problematic. Trafficking of such species to Asian countries such as China will probably con- tinue to increase.
(7) Chinese multinational corporations creating more links to Asia Investment in Mesoamerica from Chinese multi- national corporations has increased since the 2000s, but es- pecially in the 2010s, with the construction of roads, airports, railways and other infrastructure. Free trade agreements be- tweenAsia and LatinAmerica have grown (Estevadeoral et al., 2014) and China has invested USD 250 billion into Latin America and the Caribbean during 2015–2019 (Dollar, 2017). This has resulted in an increase in the movement of goods and people between Mesoamerica and Asia and may create pathways for wildlife trafficking. The increasing population of Chinese nationals within Mesoamerica (Mazza, 2016)is expected to lead to a rise in domestic demand for certain wildlife products.
(8) Increasing demand for birds and small mammals in the pet trade Birds of the family Psittacidae (parrots, para- keets and macaws) and small mammals maintain strong buyer demand and are increasingly targeted for the illegal pet trade. Trafficking of species within these groups is dri- ven by shifting trends in regional and international markets (i.e. what is considered fashionable at a point in time). Although the level of interest in particular species may vary, the continued high demand for these groups in gen- eral, coupled with the decimation of wild populations through other environmental pressures, poses a threat to their survival and requires greater vigilance.
(9) Land clearance increasing access to wildlife species for trade Deforestation and construction of new infrastruc- ture have increased access to previously isolated wilderness areas within Mesoamerica. The resulting increased prox- imity of people and wildlife, exacerbated by high rates of human population growth and associated rural and urban expansion, can facilitate access to, and exploitation and
Oryx, 2021, 55(5), 708–716 © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605319001133
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