Incautaciones y sanciones al tráfico ilegal de fauna silvestre en Bogotá (Colombia) y su efecto disuasorio a lo largo de tres décadas (1996-2024)

Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, is the main destination for illegal trade of wild fauna operating in the country. The District Secretariat of Environment (Secretaría Distrital de Ambiente, SDA), as the environmental authority in Bogotá, is the main entity responsible for combating this illicit activity in the city. This research aimed to determine the deterrent effect that the SDA has had on the illegal trade of wild fauna in Bogotá between 1996 and 2024, through an analysis of the three elements necessary to deter illegal activities: detection, certainty of sanction, and severity of the sanction. The results demonstrated that, during the period evaluated, these three elements are weak in the SDA, because although this environmental authority seized 60,147 wildlife individuals, a large portion of illegal trafficking remains hidden; only the illegal trade of 4% of the seized individuals received a sanction; and of the 1,590 sanctions imposed, 92% consisted of definitive confiscation of the specimen, a sanction lacking in severity and unable to ensure proportionality with the environmental impacts generated. The SDA’s weak law enforcement equates to a low deterrent effect on illegal trade of wild fauna in Bogotá. The possible causes of this reality were analyzed, and recommendations were made for the SDA to increase its deterrent capacity and thus contribute to the conservation of Colombia’s biodiversity.