15 March 2018: The World Wildlife Fund (WWF), TRAFFIC and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) have launched the ‘Global Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online’. Casting a wide net to stymie the sale of illegal wildlife wares, the collaboration aims to reduce online wildlife trafficking by 80% by 2020, an outcome in line with internationally agreed goals and mandates. Meanwhile, a growing herd of digital elephants is (safely) marching across social media platforms towards Botswana, where the second Giants Club Summit will be held.

The Global Coalition, a partnership of corporations and wildlife experts, will create an industry-wide approach to stopping the sale of illegal wildlife products online. Convened by WWF, TRAFFIC and IFAW, founding members of the Coalition include Alibaba, Baidu, Baixing, eBay, Etsy, Facebook, Google, Huaxia Collection, Instagram, Kuaishou, Mall for Africa, Microsoft, Pinterest, Qyer, Ruby Lane, Shengshi Collection, Tencent, Wen Wan Tian Xia, Zhongyikupai, Zhuanzhuan and 58 Group. The collaboration will pursue both computer-driven and manual or training-based approaches to stopping the advertisement and sale of items derived from protected species.

The Global Coalition’s work will contribute to a growing international effort to address poaching, trafficking, and wildlife crime. Two targets (15.7 and 15.c) under the UN Sustainable Development Goal on life on land (SDG 15) call for ending poaching and trafficking. Beyond the SDGs, the partnership’s progress will also support mandates under the UN General Assembly, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the UN Crime Commission, the UN Environment Assembly, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), INTERPOL, and the World Customs Organisation – all of which have, in recent years, adopted and increased efforts to address these issues. In 2016, at its Conference of the Parities, CITES adopted a resolution on cybercrime.

As tech companies are coming together to patrol the online space, a digital herd of elephants is marching through billboards and social media. The campaign, called #MarchforGiants, encourages supporters to create a personalized digital elephant and join the herd, which will conclude its journey in northern Botswana, where the second Giants Club Summit will convene from 15-17 March. The Giants Club consists of Kenya, Botswana, Gabon and Uganda. The Summit aims to build on its 2016 outcomes, advancing elephant conservation and implementation of action plans, including finance. The meeting will also celebrate China’s commitment to ban domestic ivory trade, as well as Hong Kong’s announcement to phase out its legal retail market for elephant ivory by 2022.

At the outset of the first Giants Summit, Kenya burned the largest stockpile of ivory and rhino horn in history. Though elephant ivory and rhino horn often take center stage, initiatives like ivory pyres, digital elephant march, and the Global Partnership raise visibility for all endangered wildlife threatened by poachers and crime. [World Wildlife Press Release] [TRAFFIC Press Release] [National Geographic Story on Hong Kong] [CITES Secretary-General June 2017 Statement] [Giants Club Summit] [March for Giants] [SDG Knowledge Hub Policy Brief on Wildlife Crime] [SDG Knowledge Hub story on CITES COP]