Wildlife and forest crime

Understanding the Female Wildlife Offender: Lessons from the Case Files

6 Sep, 2023
Anne-Marie Weeden

Closed case reviews indicate that gender norms might be as harmful as they are helpful in understanding female involvement in wildlife crime, with better evidence needed to inform enforcement strategies. The role of women in relation to wildlife crime is viewed through a lens of localised gender norms, social conventions…

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Conservation NGOs can Boost Financial Investigations into Illegal Wildlife Trade – An Opportunity for Cross-Sector Collaboration

17 Jan, 2022
Fred Ellis

In recent years, academic research on the frequency of financial investigations into illegal wildlife trade (IWT) has been growing, both in volume and in strength of voice. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) regularly publishes reports on the movements of profits from IWT, and the Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) – the…

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Illegal Wildlife Trade’s ‘Frenemy’: Navigating the implications of China’s BRI Expansion in West Africa

7 Dec, 2021
Elijah Glantz

Can China become an asset in the fight against illegal wildlife trade (IWT)? With the construction of the Chinese-financed and built Lekki Deep Sea Port in Nigeria, China continues to expand into West Africa as part of its Blue Economic Passage project, an aspect of the larger Belt and Road…

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Cheating the System: Where Permits Come as Freely as the Wildlife

28 Sep, 2021
Lauren Young

Urgent action is needed to modernise the operation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to prevent the systematic ‘laundering’ of threatened species such as cheetahs. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) published in September 2021 a stark reminder of…

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