Focused Conservation’s mission is to dismantle the illegal wildlife trade by supporting governments and law enforcement agencies in investigating, arresting and prosecuting wildlife traffickers.

While the effects of wildlife trafficking are profound, there are a surprisingly small number of transnational criminal organizations with the logistical and financial capacity to move illicit goods between continents. Transporting wildlife contraband involves an identifiable set of bureaucratic activities that leave actionable evidence. Focused Conservation leads covert investigations that target specific vulnerabilities, zeroing in on the supply, transportation and financing of wildlife trafficking.

Drawing on decades of national and international law enforcement experience, the Focused Conservation team gathers intelligence and identifies key actors, convergence points and avenues for intervention. Our investigations are undertaken with government partners, providing law enforcement agencies with the tools needed to dismantle key networks and arrest “untouchables” — kingpins of the wildlife trafficking underworld.

Corruption facilitates wildlife crime, particularly through seaports, airports, border crossings, and in customs departments and judicial systems. In addition, lack of knowledge and poor training leave gaps in law enforcement’s ability to gather evidence and build strong cases against high-level wildlife traffickers.

In addition to leading investigations, Focused Conservation concentrates efforts on vetting, training and mentoring trusted law enforcement units with a specific mandate to tackle wildlife crime. Our training specialists work with these Wildlife Crime Units to strengthen them against corruption and arm them with the skills and knowledge needed to bring wildlife traffickers to justice. While our investigations result in immediate impact, our government training is providing a sustainable and long-term solution to wildlife crime.

Focused Conservation also offers training and mentoring to partners in countries around the world. We provide a formal curriculum for training programs and hands-on mentoring support in the areas of counter wildlife trafficking investigations, tactics, intelligence and analysis, and security/risk management — building capacity and technical skills that extends far beyond formal training.

Identifying and countering transnational criminal networks engaged in wildlife crime is challenging due to the ingenuity, sophistication, and the agility with which they operate. Trafficking kingpins shift operations from one country to another to evade law enforcement threats and rely on sophisticated communications systems and technology to evade detection. Currently, most responses are on a national level with little coordinated effort across borders. This lack of communication and collaboration is even more pronounced for the Africa-Asia nexus.

Effective action against wildlife crime requires a coordinated response, often across bureaucratic and institutional divides. Focused Conservation works with partners to encourage a cultural shift from ‘need to know’ to a ‘responsibility to share’ of actionable intelligence. Our team establishes and strengthens systems for information collection, management, analysis, and dissemination — providing a flow of intelligence to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.