WASHINGTON, D.C. | March 2, 2022 — To celebrate World Wildlife Day, NWC seeks to promote its Wildlife Whistleblower Pledge, uniting people around the world who know whistleblowers are the key to solving environmental crimes.
On December 20, 2013, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly passed a resolution declaring March 3rd World Wildlife Day. The resolution promotes World Wildlife Day as an opportunity to “celebrate and raise awareness of the world’s wild fauna and flora” while working to thwart “environmental crimes, including trafficking in endangered and … protected species of wild fauna and flora … by strengthening international cooperation, capacity-building, criminal justice responses and law enforcement efforts”.
NWC is proud to stand with the UN on the front lines of the fight against environmental crimes like the trafficking of plants and animals. As a Grand Prize Winner of the Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge, NWC has partnered with USAID on our Global Wildlife Whistleblower Program, raising awareness of trafficking while creating the framework for whistleblowers around the world to report environmental crimes.
NWC Executive Director Siri Nelson commemorates World Wildlife Day and highlights the value of wildlife whistleblowers, saying:
Wildlife Whistleblowers are critical insiders armed with otherwise unknowable information about wildlife violations – including information about the destruction of precious habitats through crimes like illegal timber collection. Mega corporations and organized criminals thrive by exploiting animals and the environment without fear of detection. The Wildlife Conservation and Anti-Trafficking Act is urgently needed to help wildlife whistleblowers come forward to truly put an end to these irreversible crimes.
Further, NWC supports progress made through IUCN commitments to climate whistleblowers, and the passage of climate whistleblower protections in Latvia, as clear indicators of global support for climate and wildlife whistleblowers. NWC has also long partnered with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to advance whistleblower protections as a key tool in combating wildlife trafficking. Last fall, IFAW published a report calling for whistleblower protections to thwart online trafficking markets.
NWC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit actively engaged in publicly supported campaigns for increased wildlife whistleblower protections. Please consider donating today to continue this important work.
For more information, contact NWC at info@whistleblowers.org.
