Environment Secretary Michael Gove has announced £4.5 million of new funding through the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund to tackle the criminals trafficking endangered species.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove has announced £4.5 million for 14 new Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund projects to combat the trade in illegal wildlife at a special event to mark 100 days till the London Illegal Wildlife Trade conference.

The Challenge fund projects will act to prevent wildlife being trafficked or illegally traded through measures including demand reduction, strengthening enforcement and criminal justice, and providing alternative livelihoods.

The new funding comes as part of a host of measures announced by the Foreign Secretary in the build-up to the London Illegal Wildlife Trade conference in October.

Projects that will receive funding include supporting eco-guardians and community enforcement networks to protect elephants, a ‘payback’ scheme for the perpetrators of IWT and the development of strong room best practice guidelines for the storage of seized illegal ivory. There will also be funding provided to disrupt the poaching affecting iconic species such as Sumatran tigers and snow leopards.

Environment Secretary, Michael Gove said:

    Environmental challenges do not respect borders, and require coordinated international action. Our Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund is driving change to combat this despicable criminality. The 14 projects range across 27 countries and showcase measures from criminal justice to education. These priorities reflect our commitment in the 25 Year Environment Plan to work with other nations to stamp out this vile trade. The fund, alongside our introduction of one of the world’s toughest bans on ivory sales, shows our global leadership in protecting wildlife in its natural environment.

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