A Thorn in the Succulent Heartland
South Africa's arid landscapes, home to some of the world's most diverse succulent flora, are losing thousands of plants to a shadowy trade in rare species. Since 2018, authorities in the Western Cape have seized about 2.5 million illegally harvested succulents, but according to CapeNature, this figure probably represents less than one quarter of the total poached. The scale of the crisis was laid bare in presentations to the Western Cape provincial Parliament's standing committee for environmental affairs, where CapeNature, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), and TRAFFIC detailed the growing threat.
South Africa is one of the world's most biodiverse regions for succulents, concentrated in the Northern and Western Cape, particularly the Succulent Karoo Biome—a global hotspot with over 2,000 endemic plant species. But this unique flora is easy picking for criminals. The demand is driven by collectors in international markets, with TRAFFIC data showing succulent poaching surging since 2019. Plants are sold in China, South Korea, Japan, and Germany, often through organized networks that also deal in other illegal goods.
Local Drivers, Global Consequences
The impact extends beyond the plants themselves. "If we want to cut this illegal trade, we have to offer people a transformative or sustainable alternative," said David Newton, TRAFFIC's programme office director for Southern and East Africa, who called the crisis "socio-ecological"—tying together biodiversity loss, rural poverty, and organised crime. Fieldwork by TRAFFIC found that local harvesters, often impoverished residents of rural communities, are paid between R10 and R150 per plant, with some earning more than R10,000 over a five-day collecting trip. Unemployment is frequently cited as a driver.
DFFE chief director for enforcement Frances Craigie noted that from January to June this year, nearly 376,000 plants were seized in 26 incidents, mostly in the Western Cape. She added that policing in the Western Cape is more active, with better informer networks, whereas the Northern Cape faces serious capacity constraints. Most plants are poached in the Northern Cape and moved to the Western Cape for export, Craigie said.
CapeNature's Deon Hignett said flora crime now accounts for more than half of the organisation's crime investigations. Several Conophytum species and subspecies are already extinct in the wild, and many more are at risk. Early poaching targeted Conophytum, but syndicates have since diversified into other endemic plants such as Euphorbia and Gibbaeum. "If we lose these species, we lose them forever," Hignett warned.
A Growing, Deadly Trade
Politician David Bryant, a member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament, said the true scale of the trade is staggering. "It's estimated that about 2.5 million plants, succulents in particular, have been poached across the Western and Northern Cape since 2018. And we're not seeing a noted decrease. In fact, we are seeing an increase in the number of plants that are being poached," Bryant said. He added that this type of poaching is attractive because it doesn't carry the same risk as rhino poaching: "It doesn't pose the same threat to life and limb as poaching of rhinos or other animals, often where poachers are themselves killed by enforcement agencies in the process."
The Cape Floristic Kingdom, a UNESCO World Heritage site with over 9,000 plant species—70% of which exist nowhere else—is a prime target. The isolation of succulent habitats makes policing difficult, and the effectiveness of current enforcement is under scrutiny in Parliament. Bryant warned of the broader consequences: "The poaching of succulents is something that affects many people through a very diverse value chain that includes criminal networks, which also operate and trade in other illegal goods, including drugs. But most importantly, it is the fact that going forward, we may lose many very important local biodiversity treasures in these succulents, which we'll never be able to get back again."
Science and Sentencing
Emily Norma Kudze, senior scientific coordinator for the illegal succulent trade at SANBI, explained that when huge numbers are removed from the wild, species can become functionally extinct. "When we go back and monitor those plants in the wild and we notice a decline, this is when we say that they're functionally extinct, meaning that there isn't enough for reproduction of those species," she said. Kudze cited an example of 3,000 plants of one species being collected, pushing it to the brink.
In response, a national strategy has been launched, involving multiple agencies and improving coordination, surveillance, and training. This has led to the arrest of some syndicate leaders. SANBI has also established a Succulent Poaching Working Group, which has created educational materials for schools in the Namaqua region, restoration projects, and training for prosecutors. "We have had cases where we have been handing sentences like 15 years for some people who have been caught taking plants out of the wild," Kudze said. "I would like to believe that in the last 5 or 6 years that we've been tackling this issue, we have gained very big momentum in pushing and also reducing the amount of confiscations that are coming in."
Despite these efforts, the pressure remains intense. CapeNature's Hignett recommended strengthening enforcement, improving storage for seized plants, providing biodiversity crime training for police and prosecutors, and reinstating the "green court" to expedite cases. The standing committee on environmental affairs, after the presentations, moved behind closed doors to discuss the sensitive issues raised. For now, the fate of these ancient plants hangs in the balance, as the trade that threatens them continues to flourish.