Quiet plunder of the Succulent Karoo

South Africa's Succulent Karoo, a global biodiversity hotspot, is under severe threat from a sophisticated international plant trafficking operation.

What was once dismissed as niche plant collecting has evolved into organised environmental crime, with millions of rare, endemic succulents illegally harvested and sold globally, pushing species like Conophytum to functional extinction.

Efforts to combat this crisis face challenges from porous borders, limited resources, and socio-economic drivers, but coordinated enforcement and new forensic tools offer hope.

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