Stand Up Against Wildlife Crime

As much as there can be international intervention regarding wildlife trade, there also needs to be an individual organisation in each country to further reinforce the rules and raise awareness among the general public within the country. This is where the role of local Non Governmental Organisations(NGOs) come in.

One of the more prominent NGOs in Southeast Asia will be Education for Vietnam (ENV). Established in 2000, ENV is the first NGO in Vietnam focusing on environmental conservation. and its mission involves “foster greater understanding amongst the Vietnamese public about environmental issues of local, national and global significance. Since then, ENV has been praised for “helping transform the quality of wildlife protection enforcement in Vietnam” through pushing forth greater transparency in the law and bringing light to wildlife crimes in order to raise greater awareness.

In terms of legal actions, ENV provides Vietnamese with a 24 Hour Toll-Free Wildlife Hotline, where individuals can report any relevant information about wildlife crime and the organisation will take over from here. By increasing their accessibility, it gives the public an outlet to reach them when in need. ENV also engages in “compliance monitoring”,  where they carry out regular inspections of local businesses which have been reported by locals to be illegally selling wildlife products. Even till today, it is not difficult to find a restaurant in Hanoi that have Pangolin meat, or even freshwater turtles on their menu like the one shown below.

ENV also aims to increase pubic awareness towards illegal wildlife through promotional campaigns and encourages them to actively participate in wildlife protection. They inform the general public the severity of the matter and also clear up their misunderstandings towards the matter. Up til today, they have carried out campaigns against the consumption and selling of bear bile, rhino, tiger parts and even certain species of plants.

ENV maintains close relationships with the Vietnam media to sustain coverage on important wildlife trade issues. Furthermore, they also have a Mobile Wildlife Awareness team, who tours the country undertaking awareness activities to deliver messages directly to stakeholder groups, ranging from university students and urban residents and communities bordering protected areas, to customs officers, police and provincial government leaders.

The work of ENV have been demonstrated in the successful reduction of illegal wildlife products traded in the four major cities of Vietnam, with Hanoi being the one that achieved the greatest success.

ENV is just an example to illustrate the importance of an NGO which works local scale to foster more understanding among individuals.  Some locals might even find NGOs more accessible and approachable as compared to international organisations. With more local NGOs stepping out to protect wildlife,  I’m sure there’ll be significant improvement towards this matter.