Earlier this year, the United States treasury and the South African treasury joined forces to fight illegal finance linked to wildlife crime.
The language used by US treasury secretary Janet Yellen – “follow the money” – has been a guiding mantra for more than six years at United for Wildlife, the global network led by Prince William to end the illegal wildlife trade. Seeing this order announced at the highest level of international politics shows a major shift in thinking about the illegal wildlife trade.
This represents an estimated $20 billion in illegal profits for international organized crime syndicates each year. Profits that cannot be made at the expense of endangered species lead to other transnational organized crimes, including narcotics, arms and human trafficking, as well as corruption.
As a federal prosecutor in the US, I investigated and brought to justice international drug trafficking syndicates. My experience in the fight against crime has shown that criminals are commodity agnostic: they don’t care about the illegal goods they release as long as the risk reward ratio is more favorable.
This leads me to ask why, when it comes to the wildlife trade, aren’t our tactics the same as product agnostics? Why don’t we use the strategies used to fight other major crimes – conducting cross-sector forensic and financial investigations to follow the money and build evidence against the criminal groups responsible – when the threat is to an endangered species?
Criminal enterprises are very adept at working across borders and functions. From poaching in biodiversity-rich countries such as South Africa to transit locations such as Dubai and Singapore, and finally to receiving and selling illegal products in countries with great commercial demand for protected species, they have built a strong network. However, when dealing with wildlife trafficking, enforcement responses have generally ended, rather than begun, with the arrest of poachers in source countries or the confiscation of wildlife at the border.
An effective response requires root and branch international coordination. From wildlife rangers on the front lines of the fight against poachers to NGOs, financial institutions, transport companies, online markets and even domestic and international law enforcement – all play an important role in reducing wildlife trafficking networks. They need to coordinate and align, as the US and South Africa have announced their plans.
As vice-chairman of United for Wildlife, an initiative established by Prince William and The Royal Foundation to foster cross-sector collaboration, I firmly believe that if criminals don’t work in silos, neither can we.
South Africa is a world leader in showing how this can be done. Local members of our Financial Task Force work with South Africa’s Integrated Anti-Money Laundering Task Force to proactively investigate wildlife crimes that can be detected in the financial system, linking financial intelligence with law enforcement to break up this heinous crime chain.
At the United for Wildlife conference at Timbavati Private Nature Reserve in the Greater Kruger National Park this week, our members took things a step further. We are bringing the private sector to the front line of the fight against poachers, to unite banks, transport companies and international law enforcement with the rangers who bravely risk their lives to maintain the front lines of conservation. By breaking down silos, and building trust and solidarity across sectors, we can normalize the routine of sharing intelligence, red flags and indicators of wildlife trafficking.
As all conservationists will tell you, we still have a long way to go. Tens of thousands of elephants are killed each year with the tragic efficiency that more elephants are poached than are born each year in Africa. But when we see world leaders such as Yellen echoing and amplifying our calls to follow the money, we know this approach is working and our resolve is strengthened. By expanding the leadership and cross-sector collaboration that has been so effectively modeled in South Africa, we can and will make it impossible for traffickers to transport, finance and profit from this devastating crime with impunity.
David Fein is the chair of the United for Wildlife Financial Taskforce and Special Counsel at Paul, Weiss. Founded by Prince William and The Royal Foundation in 2014, United for Wildlife aims to prevent traders from transporting, financing or profiting from illegal wildlife products. Through financial and transportation task forces and a network of committed local leaders, the program has contributed to more than 450 law enforcement cases and 250 arrests over the past six years.