Following the money: Investigating illegal wildlife trade in East Africa

As the world marked Earth Day on April 22, Internews’ Earth Journalism Network has organized a webinar to support the continuing efforts of environmental journalists in East Africa to expose wildlife trafficking and environmental crime.

This webinar, for journalists in East Africa, aimed to explore the ways in which investigative reporters can expose the connection between money laundering and environmental crime. The following issues were discussed:

• Why it is hard to prosecute the kingpins of wildlife trafficking and what journalists should look out for if they want to do investigative stories on them.
• How prosecutors and the courts are using anti-money laundering laws to nab organized criminals engaged in illegal wildlife trade.
• Examples of some of the best investigative work on money laundering and wildlife trafficking from a leading environmental journalism nonprofit in East Africa.

Guest speakers:

• Didi Wamukoya – Senior Manager, Wildlife Law Enforcement Species Protection at the African Wildlife Foundation
• Annika McGinnis – Co-Founder and Director, InfoNile and member, Africa Water Journalists
• Wankyo Simon – Senior State Attorney, Office of the National Prosecutions Services, Tanzania

Moderator:

• Kiundu Waweru - EJN Project Manager, Wildlife and Conservation Media Coverage in East Africa

Banner image: A giraffe in a wildlife reserve in Kenya / Credit: Harshil Gudka via Unsplash.