In the forests of West Africa, a white-bellied pangolin hisses in terror. As the crunch of human footsteps draws closer, it follows its instinct to curl into a tight ball. This makes the animal an easy target, and a pair of hunter’s hands reaches down and roughly deposits the scaly mammal into a sack.
Nigeria is the epicentre of illegal trade in pangolins, but they are trafficked through much of West and Central Africa.
It is this kind of activity that a group of corporate leaders who convened in London during last month’s climate action week are seeking to prevent.
Founded in 2013, The Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife initiative aims to build an alliance of major international businesses, operating in sectors from aviation to technology, to tackle wildlife trafficking. In 2016, it persuaded leading private sector groups to sign the Buckingham Palace Declaration on wildlife crime.
At the star-studded meeting, which also attracted former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and film stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Emma Watson, Prince William said he sought to build a business coalition with the aim of being as “bold as we could be in terms of reaching out to a part of society that probably hadn't been included in all the conversations around nature and the environment”.
The scales of the pangolin seized in West Africa are likely to be transported via international airlines and shipping companies to Asia, then sold in financial transactions unwittingly facilitated by international banks. Bringing major companies into the fight against wildlife trafficking is therefore a vital part of combatting the trade in endangered species.
David Fein, co-chair of United for Wildlife, told The Ethical Corporation that wildlife trafficking is “an under-the-radar crime for most of the world”.
“For too long,” he says, the job of tackling wildlife trafficking has been left to conservation groups. “What we have tried to do, and I think we have done, over the last 10 years, is to raise awareness, get wildlife trafficking understood as a serious financial crime.”
While the true scale of wildlife crime is difficult to calculate, the Zoological Society of London states that the illegal wildlife trade amounts to around $23 billion a year, ranking behind only arms, drugs and human trafficking in the list of the world’s largest illegal industries.
The pangolin is the most trafficked mammal worldwide. Around one million have been poached over the past decade, largely to fuel demand in China and neighbouring countries for its scales, which are falsely thought to have medicinal properties. Overall, global biodiversity body IPBES says direct exploitation is the second largest global threat to biodiversity after habitat loss.
Some may be sceptical that international businesses are genuinely willing to invest time and resources in tackling wildlife crime. Pressed on whether corporate commitments go beyond a marketing campaign, however, Fein insists that it is in businesses’ self interest to act.
“We have leading transport companies and banks that have been doing this for years,” he says. “It's not a PR stunt, it's real action because they don't want this kind of illegal trade happening in their systems, on their aeroplanes, in their banks.”
A new focus of United for Wildlife is to bring tech companies into the fold. It has secured commitments from tech giants including Amazon, Meta and TikTok to end wildlife trafficking on their platforms, while Vodafone has announced plans to use AI to detect trade in wildlife that uses mobile money services.
TRM Labs, a Silicon Valley tech company that traces cryptocurrency transactions to detect illegal activity, is one of the latest firms to join the United for Wildlife coalition. It is launching a free platform, Project Pangolin, to enable law enforcement agencies and NGOs to share intelligence and map blockchain data.
“Wildlife traffickers are increasingly using crypto to move the proceeds of wildlife trade,” says Esteban Castano, its CEO. The new platform will help users disrupt these shadowy dealings, he adds. “They can take down online listings faster, they can freeze assets faster, they can identify the people and the companies behind the trade faster.”
The tactics of wildlife traffickers will continue to evolve. No one expects the illegal trade to disappear, but with global businesses on board, conservation groups on the ground have powerful allies as they seek to stay one step ahead and keep vulnerable biodiversity intact.
-Reuters
Nigeria is the epicentre of illegal trade in pangolins, but they are trafficked through much of West and Central Africa.
It is this kind of activity that a group of corporate leaders who convened in London during last month’s climate action week are seeking to prevent.
Founded in 2013, The Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife initiative aims to build an alliance of major international businesses, operating in sectors from aviation to technology, to tackle wildlife trafficking. In 2016, it persuaded leading private sector groups to sign the Buckingham Palace Declaration on wildlife crime.
At the star-studded meeting, which also attracted former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and film stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Emma Watson, Prince William said he sought to build a business coalition with the aim of being as “bold as we could be in terms of reaching out to a part of society that probably hadn't been included in all the conversations around nature and the environment”.
The scales of the pangolin seized in West Africa are likely to be transported via international airlines and shipping companies to Asia, then sold in financial transactions unwittingly facilitated by international banks. Bringing major companies into the fight against wildlife trafficking is therefore a vital part of combatting the trade in endangered species.
David Fein, co-chair of United for Wildlife, told The Ethical Corporation that wildlife trafficking is “an under-the-radar crime for most of the world”.
“For too long,” he says, the job of tackling wildlife trafficking has been left to conservation groups. “What we have tried to do, and I think we have done, over the last 10 years, is to raise awareness, get wildlife trafficking understood as a serious financial crime.”
While the true scale of wildlife crime is difficult to calculate, the Zoological Society of London states that the illegal wildlife trade amounts to around $23 billion a year, ranking behind only arms, drugs and human trafficking in the list of the world’s largest illegal industries.
The pangolin is the most trafficked mammal worldwide. Around one million have been poached over the past decade, largely to fuel demand in China and neighbouring countries for its scales, which are falsely thought to have medicinal properties. Overall, global biodiversity body IPBES says direct exploitation is the second largest global threat to biodiversity after habitat loss.
Some may be sceptical that international businesses are genuinely willing to invest time and resources in tackling wildlife crime. Pressed on whether corporate commitments go beyond a marketing campaign, however, Fein insists that it is in businesses’ self interest to act.
“We have leading transport companies and banks that have been doing this for years,” he says. “It's not a PR stunt, it's real action because they don't want this kind of illegal trade happening in their systems, on their aeroplanes, in their banks.”
A new focus of United for Wildlife is to bring tech companies into the fold. It has secured commitments from tech giants including Amazon, Meta and TikTok to end wildlife trafficking on their platforms, while Vodafone has announced plans to use AI to detect trade in wildlife that uses mobile money services.
TRM Labs, a Silicon Valley tech company that traces cryptocurrency transactions to detect illegal activity, is one of the latest firms to join the United for Wildlife coalition. It is launching a free platform, Project Pangolin, to enable law enforcement agencies and NGOs to share intelligence and map blockchain data.
“Wildlife traffickers are increasingly using crypto to move the proceeds of wildlife trade,” says Esteban Castano, its CEO. The new platform will help users disrupt these shadowy dealings, he adds. “They can take down online listings faster, they can freeze assets faster, they can identify the people and the companies behind the trade faster.”
The tactics of wildlife traffickers will continue to evolve. No one expects the illegal trade to disappear, but with global businesses on board, conservation groups on the ground have powerful allies as they seek to stay one step ahead and keep vulnerable biodiversity intact.
-Reuters
