The National Whistleblower Center has sent some of our staff to attend today’s World Wildlife Day (WWD) events in New York City and Washington D.C. They will be meeting with international leaders and organizers who are leading the charge to protect wildlife across the globe.
The United Nations introduced World Wildlife Day on March 3, 2013, to celebrate the beauty and value of wild fauna and flora, to raise awareness of how crucial conservation is for communities of people around the world, and to remind the international community of the urgent need to stop wildlife crime and trafficking before it drives any more species to extinction.
This year, World Wildlife Day is celebrated under the theme “The future of wildlife is in our hands.” The U.N.’s announcement for WWD 2016 highlights the current wildlife crisis by sharing information about the devastation of elephant populations around the world,
“About 100,000 elephants were estimated to be slaughtered for their ivory between 2010-2012. While we are seeing positive progress to tackle illicit wildlife trafficking, more needs to be done by all of us. On this World Wildlife Day, we hope to see even more commitments coming from countries and citizens around the world.”
Ivory trafficking networks that are quickly driving elephants to extinction plague Africa. Despite decades of sustained effort to stop poachers and traffickers, the ivory trade has only gotten bigger over time. However, a whistleblower program with strong protections and effective outreach would be particularly well suited to combating the ivory traffickers.
Just like other complex and well-hidden corrupt enterprises, there simply is no solution more effective than working with a whistleblower to combat wildlife trafficking. World Wildlife Day is an incredible opportunity for us to meet and learn from the key people working in wildlife protection.
We’ll be live tweeting World Wildlife Day to keep you up to date. Follow @stopfraud on Twitter!
Related Links:
- Take Action! Protect Wildlife Crime Whistleblowers!
- National Whistleblower Center Wins Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge Award
- Monetary Rewards for Wildlife Whistleblowers A Breakthrough for Environmental Protection
- Learn more about Protections for Wildlife Whistleblowers