The National Whistleblower Center (NWC) has launched a new pledge campaign to help support wildlife whistleblowers and combat wildlife crises. The campaign states that “whistleblowers are the most powerful tool we have to fight wildlife crime, and they need our continued support.” The pledge argues that whistleblowers are the “best first line of defense” for world governments to detect and catch damaging wildlife crime that is very hard to detect. Whistleblowers have proven that they are often in unique positions to recognize and report on crimes such as wildlife trafficking that push species to the brink of extinction.
Much of NWC’s work focuses on protecting wildlife whistleblowers around the world and advancing their causes. They advocate for stronger laws that help whistleblowers both at the Congressional level and at the international level. Recently, NWC has been calling for support for the Wildlife Conservation and Anti-Trafficking Act on a national level, and has helped introduce whistleblower provisions into motions at the recent International Union for Conservation in Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress. NWC also educates and advises federal agencies on the importance of whistleblower protections and rewards, and demonstrates how whistleblowers can be incentivized as essential parts of the wildlife protection system. Additionally, NWC collaborates with other NGOs to create literature that supports the role of whistleblowers in wildlife conservation.
The pledge encourages people to sign and to “be a part of an international community of whistleblower advocates and wildlife defenders.” Signing the pledge allows NWC to spread the word to an even larger network of people who care about the environment and the role whistleblowers can play in protecting it. It also allows NWC to call on signees when an issue of particular importance or concern relating to wildlife whistleblowers arises, helping keep the community current and aware of relevant information.