Roundup: World wildlife conference tackles online wildlife crime

Companies, governments and NGOs on Monday urged more efforts to protect endangered wildlife from online wildlife crime during an event at the 17th Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The side event, "Taking a Byte Out of Wildlife Cybercrime," brought together giant online tech companies such as Tencent of China and eBay, with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and other stakeholders.

"Online wildlife crime poses a serious threat to endangered animals including elephants, rhinoceros, reptiles and birds," said Tania McCrea-Steele, IFAW's Global Wildlife Cybercrime Project Lead.

"At a time when counts show historic lows of African elephants, and with rhino poaching numbers in the thousands -- and climbing -- for three years running, it is essential that companies, governments and NGOs come together to fight this growing hazard. This initiative makes it possible to tackle online wildlife crime in a far more holistic fashion."

In May 2015, Tencent, owner of social media platform WeChat and instant messaging service QQ, launched the program "Tencent for the Planet" jointly with The Nature Conservancy and IFAW. This initiative commits to educating users of its platforms about species conservation and stigmatizing illegal wildlife trade.

The group is also working closely with NGOs to build the monitoring capacity of Tencent with wildlife conservation and species identification knowledge; remove infringing postings on WeChat and QQ, and facilitate enforcement.

"Tencent is committed to creating a safe, environmentally-friendly internet ecosystem," said Band Yang, Director of Information Security Executive Committee at Tencent and event co-host.

"We have a zero-tolerance policy for illegal wildlife trade conducted through any of our products or services and are dedicated to using our expertise to create innovative ways of protecting endangered species via the internet. We have also been working with other global technology leaders to set the standards for fighting against illegal wildlife related trade, as well as sharing experience with these like-minded companies," Yang said.

In January 2009, eBay took the important step of banning the sale of all ivory items on its platforms worldwide and has been working to strengthen enforcement and oversight in the years since.

"eBay has more than a decade of experience fighting illegal wildlife trading," said Wolfgang Weber, Head of Global Regulation at eBay.

He said eBay hosted the first roundtable targeting the illicit trade of ivory together with IFAW and law enforcement authorities in 2006.

These partnerships are "the most powerful and effective means to achieve tangible and sustainable results. This is why we welcome and support this important initiative," Weber said.

Xu Ling, Senior Manager at TRAFFIC, an anti-wildlife crime network, said, "Given the global reach of the internet, industry-wide exchanges and a policy framework on online illegal wildlife trade are needed to address the issue comprehensively and effectively. This could help to simplify and standardize efforts to monitor the internet."

TRAFFIC has had some effective partnerships with the private sector, but more partners around the world are needed to combat illegal wildlife trade online.

"Endangered wildlife cybercrime is a global challenge and it is necessary for government, companies and NGOs at a national level to collaborate and prioritize this issue. We need to take coordinated measures to tackle wildlife cybercrime as part of the global effort to conserve endangered species and facilitate sustainable development," said Meng Xianlin, Head of Chinese CITES Management Authority.

Online wildlife trade has become a vast and difficult-to-monitor industry. IFAW's 2014 report, "Wanted -- Dead or Alive: Exposing Online Wildlife Trade," found over 30,000 animals or their parts and products sold across 280 online marketplaces, in 16 countries in a six-week period. Endit