Wildlife trafficking on the rise all across Latin America

Region's first conference on the trade hears of growing demand for live and dead animals from world's most biodiverse continent

The illegal wildlife trade is increasing all across Latin America, the first high-level conference on the issue in the Americas was told.

After drugs, guns and human trafficking, wildlife trafficking is the world's most lucrative organised crime with an annual value of around $20bn (16bn) each year, according to a 2016 report by Interpol and the UN environment programme.