There is an urgent need for public awareness campaigns to bring an end to the illegal trade in wildlife, the United Nations Environment Programme has said.
UNEP's New York office director Harris Elliot told reporters on Friday that the illegal trade in wildlife is booming and eroding precious biodiversity as well as driving several species to the brink of extinction.
"The trade undermines economies, legal systems and fuels organised crime," Mr Elliot said.
The conservationist noted that in 2011, one sub-species of the Javan Rhino went extinct in Vietnam.
He also pointed out that the last surviving Western Black Rhino had disappeared from Cameroon in the same year owing to poaching and illegal trade.
The international community has put much emphasis on saving the rhino and the elephant whose horns and tusks are in high demand.
Latest efforts to curb illicit trade in wildlife saw the world gather at the Nairobi National Park to burn 105 tonnes of ivory, a move conservationists said would reduce the demand and value for the illicit commodity.