OUR IMPACT
At Earth League International impact tracking is a fundamental and invaluable component of our ability to address environmental/wildlife crime at the highest possible level. We take impact tracking seriously, as it ensures that our work is effective, measurable, accessible and long-lasting. Despite the covert nature of most of our field operations, it’s important to provide our team, our partners, and the public, with a nuanced understanding of what we do in the field, as well as on a government and international level.
MEASURING OUR IMPACT
Due to the inherent complexity and international scope of environmental crime and our activities, we have developed a set of 14 indicators to provide evidence of our work’s multi-level, long term impacts. These indicators allow us to improve our methodologies and to report our work accurately to supporters and partners. It is through the measurement, analysis and review of these indicators that our work remains effective and pertinent towards fighting the problem of environmental crime at its core.
UNDERCOVER OPERATIONS, INTELLIGENCE PRODUCTION, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND ARRESTS
ELI is a pioneer in gathering and sharing the professional intelligence needed to target the most important environmental and wildlife crime networks, including the most important wildlife traffickers in the world.
Since the beginning of our field work in 2015, our undercover operations have demonstrated the way in which ELI’s professional intelligence provides governmental and law enforcement agencies with the knowledge, evidence and power to fight environmental crime at the highest possible level.
Within a few years we have conducted dozens of intelligence-gathering and investigative missions, in over 30 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America and Europe on several illegal wildlife supply chains, including ivory, rhino horn, jaguar’s parts, live animals, shark fins, seafood and other natural resources including timber and gold (see our Operations & Reports).
This work has resulted in the identification of over 500 Persons of Interest, over 40 international trafficking networks, and the arrests of over 30 people, including some of the most important international traffickers and tier-1 middlemen ever arrested.
We also produced dozens of Confidential Intelligence Briefs that have been shared with numerous law enforcement and government agencies in the U.S., The Netherland, Italy, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Kenya, South Africa, and Thailand, among others, and with other agencies such as Interpol, CITES and UNODC, supporting their work and transferring knowledge about criminal wildlife supply chains, from origin to destination countries, including dozens of international traffickers and Persons of Interest along with their modus operandi.
We are pioneers in the research on Environmental Crime Convergence, and we routinely produce and share intelligence on the Convergence of environmental/wildlife crime with other serious crimes, such as money laundering, human smuggling, drugs, and corruption.
CONFIDENTIAL INTELLIGENCE BRIEFS (CIBs) AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER
Upon the conclusion of our operations, ELI prepares a Confidential Intelligence Brief (CIB) to share with relevant law enforcement bodies. The CIB is arguably the most important piece of output from our intelligence and investigative activities. It is the CIB that provides law enforcement authorities the means by which to take immediate action, such as engaging in arrests and the prosecution of traffickers and traders, or even the improvement of policy and enforcement activities.
CAPACITY BUILDING AND PARTNERSHIPS
ELI collaborates with various governmental and non-governmental organizations around the world and supports their intelligence, investigative and law enforcement operations by sharing usable and actionable intelligence with trusted agencies.
Through the sharing of our Confidential Intelligence Briefs (CIBs), we have developed intimate and interactional working relationships with the key change-makers and stakeholders in the fight against environmental crime. We view these relationships as a critical element of our impact, extending our influence beyond that of other NGOs to disrupt these criminal wildlife networks at the international scale.
We also participate as speakers/trainers at capacity building and training events, including events organized by U.S. Homeland Security/HSI, United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interpol and CITES.
Our partners among Government and Law Enforcement Agencies, with which we routinely share confidential information, include U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, U.S. Homeland Security/HSI, NOAA, and various law enforcement agencies in Latin America, Europe and Asia.
Our partners among Non-Governmental Organizations and Academic Institutions include IUCN Netherlands, IFAW, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Florida International University, ESRI, The International Coalition Against Illicit Economies (ICAIE), and the National Marine Mammal Foundation. We are a member of IUCN USA.
WILDLEAKS: OUR WHISTLEBLOWING PROJECT
ELI’s industry-leading technology experts created and oversee the Tor-based WildLeaks Project, the world’s first whistleblowing initiative dedicated to environmental/wildlife crime.
Launched by ELI in 2014, the WildLeaks Project has effectively engaged and empowered members of the public to assist in the fight against environmental crime.
The project has received more than 300 submissions from individuals in over 30 countries, including China, Hong Kong, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Tanzania, India, Finland, Russia, Thailand, Laos, the US, Suriname, Mexico and Brazil. Of these, roughly a quarter were assessed to be relevant, a dozen instigated contributed to investigations, and over 25 were reported to partner NGOs, law enforcement agencies, or media partners, or a combination thereof.
PUBLIC AWARENESS AND ADVOCACY
A critical impact of ELI’s work exists in our desire to raise awareness and engage the public in the issue of environmental crime and the existential threat of species extinction. We have partnered with top players in the film and media industry to produce content that has reached millions of people worldwide.
ELI’s work underpins several award-winning wildlife documentaries, including Netflix’s The Ivory Game and Disney / National Geographic’s Sea of Shadows. Both executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, they are considered to be two of the most important wildlife/environmental documentaries of the past few years , raising awareness regarding the existential threat of species extinction. On May 31, 2023 ELI was the cover story in The New Yorker.
PUBLIC REPORTS
In the past four years we have also published several public reports, which are widely considered to be among the most comprehensive and exceptional public reports produced by an NGO. Our reports have been referenced and utilized by other organizations, researchers, policy makers, and academics across the world, making accessible previously undisclosed and unattainable information regarding environmental crime networks.
ELI’s work has been featured in hundreds of articles on the most important medias in the world, including The New Yorker, National Geographic, CNN, The Guardian, Liberation, Wired, New York Times, Al Jazeera, Smithsonian, and many others.
COMICS
In March 2020 we launched a series of graphic novels and comics designed to increase awareness and understanding of the complex world of environmental and wildlife crime. It is the first graphic novel series dedicated to environmental crime and it has been featured on the Washington Post.
We also signed a partnership with the well-known Dutch website ‘Drawing the Times’ dedicated to graphic journalism to be able to show our comics to a wider audience.
