Global Investigative Journalism Network (https://archive.gijn.org/tag/wildlife-crime/)
The illegal trafficking of wild animals and plants is damaging biodiversity worldwide and spreading diseases. It’s an international story, with great opportunities for investigations in virtually every country. GIJN’s new guide encourages deep reporting about the subject with tips and tools for covering a global trade.
The GIJN Resource Center is a leading source of tipsheets, videos, and guides on investigative and data journalism, fundraising, freelancing, and security. It’s used by journalists in 100 countries per day in 14 languages.
From investigating wildlife trafficking to reporting in the Gulf, here are our best guides and tipsheets published in 2021.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Threats to Biodiversity, Health | A Crime Story, and Much More
Chapter 1: Getting Started
Following Up on Arrests | Preliminary Research Tips | Collaboration Across Borders
Chapter 2: Using Social Media to Investigate
Developing Search Strategies | Investigative Considerations | Deeper Searches | Pressure on Social Media Companies | Legal Issues
Chapter 3: Covering Trafficking at the Source
Probing Enforcement Systems | Follow the Guns
Chapter 4: From Poachers to Consumers, Following the Trafficking Trail
Corruption | Going Undercover | Many Tricks, Many Routes | Using Seizure Records | Mining the CITES Trade Database | The Ties Linking the Legal and Illegal Markets | Following Financial Flows
Chapter 5: Reporting on Legal Systems
Valuable Stories | The Larger “Why?” Picture
Chapter 6: Reducing Demand and Fighting Myths
Advertising | Fighting Myths | Questioning Government Policies
Chapter 7: Impossible Figures: Calculating the Impact of an Immeasurable Trade
Impact beyond Money | Species Databases | Legal Trade Hard to Value | Understanding the Legal Basics: International and National | International Negotiations | National Laws and Enforcement
Chapter 8: Tips from the Experts
Chapter 9: Resources on Wildlife Trafficking
With Major Reports, Key Groups, Stories, and Relevant Databases
This guide was written by Toby McIntosh, GIJN’s Resource Center senior advisor. Illustrations are by Marcelle Louw.
Arrests for IWT rarely result in successful prosecutions and convictions. The penalties and prison sentences given are remarkably low.
Only 11% of wildlife crimes were successfully prosecuted, according to a 2017 report by the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
GIJN invited journalists and activists to answer one key question about reporting on illegal wildlife trafficking: What stories should investigative journalists interested in this subject concentrate on? From the trafficking of less-noticed animals to bushmeat and investigating the zoonotic diseases that can pass between humans and animals, read their answers based on years in the field, in this story.
Social media is now extensively used to facilitate illegal wildlife trafficking (IWT) and journalists can generate many kinds of stories by probing these online platforms. The prevalent role that social media plays in trafficking is well-documented by academics, NGO researchers, and journalists.
Perhaps the best line of inquiry for reporters is to conduct narrow searches around specific species, geographic areas, or suspects. Journalists going online can discover sources for stories and identify particular sellers and buyers.
In this GIJN webinar, we bring together four senior reporters who will offer tips on investigative stories related to wildlife crime, showcase the best research tools, and explore how to cover trafficking at its source and follow the trade. They’ll also discuss how to use social media to investigate the illegal trafficking of wildlife, a crime that is damaging biodiversity worldwide.
Find a link to a spreadsheet containing major reports, key groups, databases, and stories here.
GIJN invited experienced journalists and activists to answer one key question about reporting on illegal wildlife trafficking (IWT): What stories should investigative journalists interested in this subject concentrate on? Their reflective answers are based on years in the field.