How South Africa’s stolen succulents expose the global cost of biodiversity loss
A small quiver tree growing in my garden began with a journey to Vanrhynsdorp in the Northern Cape. I bought the plant legally, received a receipt and obtained the necessary permit. It is an ordinary transaction, but the paperwork matters: it records where the plant came from and shows that ownership does not have to depend on stripping the veld.
That is what makes the illegal succulent trade so disturbing. While legally sourced plants can be bought and documented, others are dug out of the Karoo and moved into an international market where rare specimens can command high prices. Since 2018, more than 2.5 million illegally harvested plants have been seized in the Western Cape, although CapeNature estimates that these seizures represent less than a quarter of the actual trade.
The damage is not limited to individual plants. Many succulent species grow in highly restricted areas and take years, sometimes decades, to mature. When an entire local population is removed, it cannot simply be replaced by nursery stock. The loss is genetic, ecological and potentially permanent.
My quiver tree also raises a question that cannot be answered only in Vanrhynsdorp or elsewhere in the Karoo: where do the stolen plants go?
Research has identified an international chain in which rare succulents may move through countries such as Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Tanzania before reaching collectors in China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. Some plants are then traded onwards to Europe and the United States. The evidence does not suggest one single route or one dominant buyer, but it does show that South Africa’s plant-poaching crisis is connected to a global market.
This means responsibility cannot rest with South African conservation officials alone. Importing countries should strengthen customs checks, verify CITES and other export documentation, investigate online sellers and penalise buyers who knowingly purchase wild-collected plants. Online marketplaces and social-media platforms also need to remove suspicious listings and retain information that could help investigators.
Seventeen succulent species and the Conophytum genus have been included in CITES Appendix III, which means regulated specimens exported from South Africa require appropriate documentation. Yet a permit system is only effective if exporting and importing countries have the resources and political will to enforce it.
The quiver tree in my garden is more than a reminder of a trip to Vanrhynsdorp. It is a reminder that conservation begins with knowing what we are buying. A receipt and permit cannot solve a global wildlife-trafficking problem, but they create accountability.
South Africa may be losing the plants, but the international market is helping decide which ones disappear.
