Fighting Crimes Against Nature

Wildlife Alliance works with park rangers, wildlife police and law enforcement throughout Southeast Asia and the Russian Far East to identify poachers and wildlife traffickers, rescue animals, and ensure that the criminals who profit from crimes against nature are brought to justice.

Wildlife Alliance works to combat crimes against nature. This includes the global illegal wildlife trade where Southeast Asia is a hotbed of such illegal activity. This devastating criminal activity, valued at $6 to $20 billion each year in revenue by Interpol, trails only the illegal arms and drug trades in profitability. The destruction it causes is rapidly eradicating many of the world's endangered and threatened species such as leopards, tigers, and sun bears. Until recently commercial wildlife poaching and the illegal wildlife trade received little attention from law enforcement agencies in many parts of the world, such as Asia; and political will to curb this emergent global issue has been almost negligible. This is beginning to change and Wildlife Alliance's Cambodian projects aim to prevent wildlife from entering this illicit trade.

The wildlife products trafficked include live specimens of wild animals for the pet trade and as status symbols, as well as consumable products made from wild animals such as exotic bush meat, trophies from rare wildlife, and luxury items for display such as ivory, and tiger pelts. In addition to wild animal species, protected and endangered timber and plant species are also at risk due to international smuggling and illegal timber harvesting and plant collection. Among the plant species threatened by this black market are agarwood (aloe wood), ramin wood, ginger, and ginseng. Financially, these species represent a significant proportion of the transnational illegal wildlife trade, either in the form of timber, live flowers or bulbs, or aromatics and other derivatives. Other crimes against nature that Wildlife Alliance tries to stop are deforestation caused by land encroachment or drug and charcoal manufacturing that devastate the rainforest.