Dear friends and supporters,
This month brings encouraging signs of progress in the global fight against wildlife crime. From operational successes with our law enforcement partners in Madagascar, to expanding our work into timber trafficking, to advancing international policy discussions, the Wildlife Justice Commission continues to demonstrate that intelligence-led enforcement can disrupt even the most entrenched criminal networks.
As we share these updates, we remain grateful for the support and collaboration of partners around the world who make this work possible.
Warm regards,
Olivia
Major operation in Madagascar disrupts wildlife trafficking network
Wildlife Justice, working alongside law enforcement partners, supported a successful operation in Toliara, Madagascar, resulting in the arrests of three suspected wildlife traffickers and the seizure of 167 critically-endangered radiated tortoises destined for the illegal pet trade in Southeast Asia.
The operation was led by the Anti-Corruption Agency (DULC) of Madagascar’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD), in close cooperation with DREDD South West and the National Police Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) in Toliara. Authorities continue working to identify additional co-conspirators involved in the network.
This operation builds on the close cooperation between Wildlife Justice and Malagasy authorities since 2024, which has already delivered significant results. Our collective efforts helped secure the conviction of ten wildlife traffickers (including the network’s kingpin) involved in smuggling species from Madagascar to Thailand. These operations also led to the rescue of 1,234 tortoises, 48 lemurs, and other species—and to their historic repatriation from Thailand to Madagascar in November 2024.
Read more here.
Expanding the fight: Wildlife Justice takes on timber trafficking
With the generous support of a €1.26 million grant from the Dutch Postcode Lottery, made possible by its players across the Netherlands, Wildlife Justice will expand its intelligence-led approach to combat timber trafficking.
Illegal logging accounts for a significant share of the global timber trade, and is estimated to be worth USD 150 billion annually.
Every year, the world loses around 10 million hectares of forest, roughly 27,000 hectares every day. Tropical forests, where illegal logging is a major driver, bear the brunt of this destruction, causing severe biodiversity loss and contributing significantly to global carbon emissions.
Building on a decade of disrupting the criminal networks trafficking wildlife and marine species, Wildlife Justice will now work with governments and law enforcement partners to target the financiers, brokers, and buyers driving illegal timber supply chains.
Read more here.
Strengthening global enforcement against environmental crime
Wildlife Justice actively participated along the sidelines of the Second Meeting of the Intergovernmental Expert Group on Crimes that Affect the Environment (CAE) under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). The work of this group is important, as it examines how transnational organised wildlife trafficking and other environmental crimes can be more effectively prevented and tackled globally by States within the international legal framework.
As civil society was officially excluded from the meeting, we co-organised, in our role as co-chair of the NGO Alliance on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice’s Working Group on CAE, a civil society briefing for State representatives ahead of the meeting. The aim was to ensure that operational insights from civil society could still inform discussions and that civil society perspectives and recommendations were reflected in efforts to strengthen global responses to environmental crime.
In an event hosted by the Chair of the Intergovernmental Expert Group, Peru, which focused on crime prevention strategies, Wildlife Justice emphasised that – in addition to strategies addressing socioeconomic drivers – lasting prevention requires consistent enforcement and that effective deterrence requires:
- Closing gaps in legal frameworks and strengthening international cooperation
- Sustained, intelligence-led enforcement
- Targeting high-level criminal actors
- Early prosecutorial engagement
- Strong and proportionate sentencing
With the 13th UNTOC Conference of the Parties taking place in October, Wildlife Justice will continue advocating for stronger enforcement responses to crimes that affect the environment, including wildlife trafficking.
Read more here.
New multimedia report: A decade of impact
This month, Wildlife Justice launched Fighting Wildlife Crime: A Decade of Impact, a new multimedia feature highlighting ten years of disrupting transnational wildlife trafficking networks.
Through compelling case studies, operational footage, and key milestones, the report illustrates how intelligence-led investigations, undercover operations, and close collaboration with law enforcement partners have translated evidence into action — leading to arrests, prosecutions, and convictions of wildlife traffickers.
The report also highlights how sustained enforcement can reshape the operating environment for organised wildlife crime and protect vulnerable species.
Explore Fighting wildlife crime: A decade of Impact.
Support our work—together, we can disrupt criminal networks and save species from extinction.
