Arcadia provides $3m to TRAFFIC to help protect Africa’s threatened wildlife
Johannesburg, South Africa, 1st October 2016—TRAFFIC, the leading non-governmental organization working globally on trade in wild animals, announced today that it has received a new $3m grant from Arcadia, the fund set up by Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin to support charities and scholarly institutions that preserve cultural heritage and the environment.
TRAFFIC will receive the funds over the next four years to support its work to reduce illegal and unsustainable trade in Africa’s wildlife.
Illegal wildlife trade is particularly acute in Africa, driven by growing demand from Asia for ivory, rhino horn and other products. There has been a recent surge in trafficking of animals from pangolins to parrots and Ploughshare Tortoises. Plant species are also at risk from illegal and unsustainable trade, including high value timber species such as rosewoods, cycads and other ornamental plants, and species used for food and medicine.
Illegal wildlife trade and poorly controlled legal trade threaten more than just the species involved
TRAFFIC’s Executive Director Steven Broad“They also threaten the balance of wider ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them. We will use this grant from Arcadia to strengthen wildlife trade research, analysis, knowledge sharing, and ultimately conservation action by governments, businesses, other NGOs and wider civil society. Commitments such as this one provide us with the critical support we need to tackle these urgent issues.”
The funding provided by Arcadia will be used to increase the quality, breadth, depth and timeliness of information available on trade in wildlife and wildlife products from Africa. A particular emphasis will be placed on supporting innovation and scaling up of successful approaches, and strengthening cross-collaboration and synergies with others working to reduce trade threats to wild species.
About Arcadia
Arcadia helps people to conserve and restore nature, record cultural heritage, and promote open access to knowledge. Since 2002 Arcadia has awarded more than $1.2 billion to organizations around the world.
