EIA unveils first-of-its-kind Environmental Crime Tracker to analyse wildlife and forest crime

Where do you look if you want to find out how many elephants were killed for their tusks last year, but don’t have the time to cross-reference a multitude of research sources?

Or if you need to ascertain the volume of timber seized by enforcement authorities which was illegally logged in a particular country?

Now you can find this kind of information and so much more in our ground-breaking new tool to analyse wildlife and forest crime.

Launched today on the eve of World Environment Day (5 June), our new Global Environmental Crime Tracker is free to use, open to all and has been developed during the past 12 months by EIA’s Intelligence Team, with help from numerous volunteers who have given their technical expertise to make it happen.

While other platforms make similar data available, EIA’s is the first to offer interactivity to users, allowing them to zero in on precisely the information they’re after.

Improving access to the non-sensitive data EIA collects on wildlife seizures and illegal logging, the Tracker features interactive dashboards and live mapping of incidents, allowing the user to filter and tailor the information to their requirements.

As well as insights into hot spots of wildlife and illegal logging seizures, it will also reveal changes in trends and trafficking methods.

And because we believe in sharing information to bolster awareness and enforcement efforts around the world, we’ve made the Tracker free to use and accessible for everyone, from fellow environmental campaigners to journalists and the public.

Mel Butler, EIA’s Senior Intelligence Analyst, said: “Giving the public access to this data in real time will help to improve understanding of current environmental crime issues, from the scale of trafficking among particular species to the criminal hotspots and the places where forest and wildlife crime overlap.

“This is the first launch of the tool and we plan to add more functionality in the future, including data on the seizures of illegal climate-harming and ozone-destroying gases.”

• Following today’s launch, EIA campaigners will be hosting a live public demonstration of the new Tracker, with the opportunity to ask questions about how to use it, on 15 June at 1.30pm BST; sign-up to attend the session is free and open to all at https://eia-international.org/webinar.