Britan gives £7m to protect tigers, orangutans and pangolins from illegal trade

Britain is putting more than £7m towards protecting tigers, bears, orangutans, pangolins and rosewood trees from the illegal wildlife trade.

It’s the latest tranche handed out in a £46m fund for conservation projects worldwide that began in 2014 and runs until next year.

The illegal wildlife trade, estimated to be worth up to £17bn globally a year, is the fourth- largest global illegal trade after arms, drugs, and human trafficking, according to the UN.

Linked to fraud, money-laundering, and corruption, wildlife trafficking also threatens species with extinction, deprives poor communities of sustainable livelihoods and degrades ecosystems’ ability to store carbon.

Seventeen schemes will benefit from the latest cash, including projects to protect tigers in Nepal, bears and macaws in South America, orangutans and elephants in Indonesia and pangolins in the Philippines.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said the Nepal work will involve protecting the second-largest population of endangered royal bengal tigers by strengthening wildlife enforcement and raising awareness of importance of tigers among local communities.

In Bolivia and Peru, a project will disrupt illegal wildlife trade networks by “embedding financial investigation and asset recovery into illegal wildlife trade enforcement practice”, to protect rosewood timber, bears and macaws from traffickers.

In Indonesia, the cash will go towards boosting legislation and enforcement through on-the-ground protection and will support community-led efforts to protect orangutans and elephants, which are said to be extremely vulnerable to illegal wildlife trade.

In Malawi, funding will help conduct courtroom monitoring, private prosecutions, support open judicial dialogue and case law reviews.

International environment minister Lord Goldsmith said: “Iconic species including tigers, orangutans and elephants are all moving closer towards extinction, and it is important that we do everything we can to reverse this decline.

“This year the government is committing more money than ever before under the illegal wildlife trade challenge fund to combat this terrible trade and these vital projects will help to ensure that these species are protected for generations to come.”

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Between 2016 and last year, the Royal United Services Institute led two projects cracking down on wildlife criminals making profits in Africa, training more than 300 staff at government agencies and financial institutions to report and investigate illegal trade.

Other projects aimed at tackling illegal wildlife trade in sub-Saharan Africa, east and southeast Asia and Latin America are being invited to apply for the next round of funding.