| 3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. HK / SGT | Virtual

Free webinar jointly organized by the Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program (TSCFP) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with the World Customs Organizations (Regional Office for Capacity Building for Asia and the Pacific and the Regional Intelligence Liaison Office), Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) and WWF.

• Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) not only has a devastating impact on wildlife, it is also a significant cross-border criminal enterprise with financial crime at its heart. It leaves a vast financial footprint. But through collaboration, we can stop it. The webinar will discuss how financial institutions can identify and mitigate transactions linked to the financial flows that underpin IWT. We will also showcase the IWT Financial Flows Toolkit, a new free-to-access resource that will support financial institutions in understanding, identifying, and mitigating their exposure to the financial flows associated with IWT.

• The event will introduce tools and initiatives financial professionals can support to increase detection or IWT such as the ACAMS WWF Ending Illegal Wildlife Trade Professional Certificate Course, already adopted by the ADB for the TSCFP participating banks and the newly launched Ending Illegal Wildlife Trade – A Practical Guide for Law Enforcement Certificate led by the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) to aid law enforcement officials in the use of financial intelligence and other data when initiating and expanding investigations into the illegal wildlife trade (IWT).

• Containerised shipping is a vital part of the global economy, but traffickers misuse these legitimate transport services and supply chains to move poached wildlife, timber and other contraband internationally. Maritime transport is the preferred method to smuggle large, non-perishable illegal wildlife products such as ivory, pangolin scales, and timber. In 2019 alone, over 90 tonnes of pangolin scales and 15 tonnes of elephant ivory were seized from containerised cargo transported between Africa and Asia. According to the UNODC, less than 2% of the 800 million 20ft TEUs containers can be efficiently inspected. It is estimated that by volume, 72–90% of wildlife products are trafficked by sea. This makes combatting illegal wildlife trade in the maritime sector a challenge.

• In 13 May 2022, member states of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) approved guidelines for the prevention and suppression of wildlife smuggling in international shipping. The decision was taken at the 46th meeting of the FAL (Facilitation) Convention on the facilitation of international maritime traffic. WWF, TRAFFIC, United for Wildlife, the United Nations and consortium of industry and government partners supported the drafting the guidelines.

• WWF and TRAFFIC launched the ‘The Red Flag Compendium for Wildlife and Timber Trafficking in Containerised Cargo’ which details the warning signs of corruption, smuggling, other related crimes and outlines red flags and additional tools to identify prolifically trafficked CITES-listed species, including big cats, specific marine life, large mammal species such as rhino, elephant, and timber. This compendium includes information on at-risk routes as well as typical indicators of illicit activities such as questionable paperwork and discrepancies in information like value, weight, and appearance. Irregular behaviour, such as consignments split across multiple shipments, last-minute requests for shipment clearance and abnormal or sudden changes in routes or destinations may be signs of illegal action. By highlighting the potential risks in this compendium, shipping companies can implement greater safeguarding measures to protect their employees, business and nature. This information is critical to protecting the integrity of maritime supply chains from operational, economic, security and zoonotic health risks

This webinar aimed at compliance and regulatory experts of participating banks of the Trade and Supply Chain Finance Program (TSCFP) of the Asian Development Bank, national customs administrations of the WCO in Asia Pacific, and representatives from the maritime industry.

The webinar was a follow-up to the joint ADB-WWF “Following the Money Trails of the Illicit Wildlife Trade”, an introductory seminar on Anti-Money Laundering and Trade-based Money Laundering Investigations Techniques to Address Illegal Financial Flows Associated with Wildlife Trafficking (5 Aug 2021)