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Coalition and United for Wildlife Team Up to Reinforce and Expand Commitments to Tackle Illegal Wildlife Trade
Republished from United for Wildlife: https://unitedforwildlife.org/news/prince-william-convenes-global-business-leaders-to-launch-major-new-push-against-illegal-wildlife-trade-at-united-for-wildlife-forum-in-london/
Prince William convenes global business leaders to launch major new push against illegal wildlife trade at United for Wildlife Forum in London.
June 2026
At today’s United for Wildlife Business Forum, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales brought together global leaders across finance, transport and technology in a new wave of action to tackle the illegal wildlife trade and environmental crime.
Held during London Climate Action Week, the Forum marks a major moment for The Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife programme, a network of more than 300 partners responding to a rapidly evolving criminal threat.
The illegal wildlife trade is one of the world’s largest criminal enterprises, worth up to $23 billion a year, with networks increasingly exploiting digital platforms, financial systems and global supply chains to operate at scale.
A series of landmark commitments announced today show how the private sector is moving collectively to disrupt these systems.
Major technology and e-commerce companies including Alibaba, Amazon, Baidu, eBay, Etsy, Google, Meta, TikTok, Pinterest and Weibo are, for the first time, committing to work together to end wildlife trafficking online, using AI-powered tools to detect and remove illegal listings.
This is the next and welcome development in commitments made by companies working with the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online (including WWF, TRAFFIC and IFAW), focused on the eradication of illegal wildlife trade listings on company platforms. These companies agree to act as sectoral pioneers who help advance technological progress, share learnings and take the leadership role in ending wildlife trafficking online at speed and scale.
The cryptocurrency sector, represented by companies including Chainalysis, PayPal, Luno, Tether, Circle and TRM Labs, is committing to track and disrupt the financial flows behind wildlife trafficking, working alongside law enforcement.
The telco operators Vodafone, Vodacom and Safaricom are using AI and transaction monitoring through M-Pesa a digital mobile currency to help identify suspicious activity across 72 million users in East Africa.
In the transport sector, British Airways and Heathrow are launching a public awareness campaign to reach passengers at one of the world’s busiest travel hubs. Meanwhile the World Shipping Council is introducing new screening tools using AI and machine learning to identify high-risk shipments across a fleet that carries over 90% of global container traffic.
David Fein, Co-Chair of United for Wildlife, said: “Criminal networks are exploiting hyperconnected systems at unprecedented scale and sophistication. What we see today is a recognition that the illegal wildlife trade is both an environmental and a business issue.”
Dr Tom Clements, Executive Director of The Royal Foundation, added: “As United for Wildlife enters its next decade, our focus is clear: to close the gaps criminals exploit, unlock new investment for nature, and support the people protecting wildlife every day.”
The forum comes ten years after the Buckingham Palace Declaration, with United for Wildlife now scaling its ambition for the needs ahead. Bringing together partners across business and government, United for Wildlife are driving coordinated global action to protect nature and disrupt environmental crime.
How AI is helping keep endangered species offline and in the wild
AI models are now searching for Schreger lines, a defining feature of elephant ivory, to identify authentic elephant ivory products, such as this bangle confiscated by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. © WWF-US/Keith Arnold
As wildlife traffickers continue to exploit the internet to their advantage, technology is building stronger defenses to stop them.
Scaling detection rates and reporting
In 2024, company members of the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online reported blocking 24.1 million prohibited wildlife listings and suspected illicit sellers since 2018. Closing out 2025, that number has skyrocketed to 63.3 million, thanks in large part to new AI detection efforts by the companies such as Alibaba and Meta. While these increases reflect seven years of collaboration by the Coalition to elevate responses to illegal wildlife trade, the use of AI language-based detection is helping companies identify prohibited content at speed and scale, as well as better understand collected data.
Enhancing image detection technologies
Companies are also exploring the use of photo-based automation to surface violating content. eBay is integrating image detection technology into its toolbox to enforce its wildlife products policy. In 2023, eBay trained its first image detection model focused on a single wildlife product, which proved very successful at proactive detection of restricted content containing that product. Since then, eBay has developed two additional models, targeting different wildlife products. One of the models has resulted in hundreds of listing removals since going live, and another standalone model for an additional product is expected to go live soon. For more information, see eBay’s Transparency Report.
Baidu and IFAW launched the AI Guardian of Endangered Species 2.0, which can identify images of target species and products online to detect illegal wildlife trade. This upgraded version recognizes 34 species, including both wildlife products and live animals, with an average identification accuracy of 86%. The AI Guardian screened 430,000 suspicious images, accurately identified 40,000 images of targeted wildlife products, and facilitated the removal of 15,000 illegal online postings.
Increasing eyes across the web
While AI is advancing Coalition efforts, people power is still needed. The Wildlife Cyber Spotter Program serves as the Coalition's extra eyes across the web, harnessing the passion of conservation supporters to help find what AI misses. Citizen scientists are trained to detect and report protected wildlife sales online, either through volunteer programs or company employee engagement initiatives. For example, each quarter WWF-Singapore conducts training sessions for over 100 volunteers. To date, volunteers have identified tens of thousands of suspicious listings, along with hundreds of new evasion tactics and illicit search terms. This growing dataset is used to train an AI model that enhances reporting accuracy for law enforcement and online companies to take action. Ultimately, the goal is for the AI to become a fully automated system that can independently detect, compile, and report suspicious wildlife content at a scale to help combat this harmful trade.
How you can help
Maybe you’re not a trade, crime, or tech expert, but are a skilled scroller who cares about wildlife. They need you too! If you see a suspicious wildlife listing online, you should report it directly to the platform you’re on, or to the Coalition’s reporting page. Data is power. The more listings of prohibited wildlife content reported to online companies, the more data they have to train and improve their AI models to catch traffickers before transactions happen.
When the Coalition launched in 2018, many company enforcement teams weren’t yet collecting data on actions taken to remove content specifically for protected wildlife as it wasn’t (and in most countries, still isn’t) required by law. Now with AI interventions, spotting tiger stripes and elephant Schreger lines is quicker than the click to purchase one.
About the Coalition
The Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online launched in 2018 with conservation convenors WWF, TRAFFIC, and IFAW. Now with 41 company members comprising more than 50 digital platforms, this collaboration unites the tech industry to standardize prohibited wildlife policies, train staff to detect prohibited wildlife, enhance automated detection filters, and educate and empower users to report suspicious listings. At the core of this effort is sharing learning and best practices to avoid duplication and prevent wildlife traffickers from shifting activities from one platform to the next. The Coalition complements additional approaches, such as those of law enforcement agencies. Get involved at www.endwildlifetraffickingonline.com
Mercado Libre and WWF: together against illegal trade of wild animals
Republished from: Mercado Libre and WWF: together against illegal trade of wild animals | Blog Posts | WWF
The illegal trade of wild animals represents one of the greatest threats to global biodiversity, leading to the decline of species and negatively impacting ecosystems. In Brazil and other Latin American countries, the commercialization of these animals, their products, and derivatives, unfortunately, still persists. Faced with this reality and its commitment to sustainability as a well-known marketplace platform in Latin America, Mercado Libre has intensified its efforts to combat this illegal practice, establishing strategic partnerships, including collaborations with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Actions and policies aimed at protecting wildlife
In accordance with national and international regulations, Mercado Libre has strict policies that prohibit the offering of flora, fauna, and their derived products on its platform. Here are some examples:
Flora and fauna that are endangered, at risk, or whose sale is prohibited by national or international law. This includes, for example, protected species listed in Appendices I and II of the CITES Convention, such as elephants and jaguars. To see the complete list of CITES-protected species, you can consult the official interactive search engine here.
Live wild animals, such as deer, otters, turtles, and others.
Domestic animals whose breeding and/or sale involves any indication of mistreatment.
Animals for fighting or their accessories.
Products intended for the capture and/or treatment of prohibited species (e.g., hunting traps, cages, terrariums, aquariums, etc.)
Remains or parts of animals not in compliance with current legislation (e.g., carcasses, blood, urine, semen, and others).
Animal heads for display (taxidermy).
Internally, specialized content moderation expert teams actively monitor platform content, using various tools and technologies - including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning systems - to automatically identify, block, and remove content that violates Mercado Libre's policies.
Mercado Libre also implemented a reporting tool for any user to anonymously flag the existence of any product listing that may be in violation of our content policies, such as our Flora and Fauna policy. Once flagged, these product listings are manually reviewed by Mercado Libre’s expert teams and quickly removed if the infraction is verified.
In continuous collaboration with ONGs and partnerships, such as WWF specialists, Mercado Libre improves its lists of prohibited keywords and trains both its content moderation teams and AI models to recognize content patterns that may indicate illicit animal sales.
Partnerships transforming the digital sector
Protecting the environment has always been a priority in Mercado Libre. This is why Mercado Libre has implemented early on various measures and best practices to combat illicit trade, and associated with relevant external partners and NGOs specialized in this problem to have expert knowledge on this topic.
In 2020, Mercado Libre signed a cooperation agreement with Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), to strengthen the detection of product listings that may be related to protected wildlife species.
Deepening its commitment to this cause, in 2022, Mercado Libre joined the "Coalition To End Wildlife Trafficking Online" (Coalition) alongside other platforms to work together and detect irregular content.
The Coalition collaboration is co-convened by WWF, ifaw, and TRAFFIC and includes training to Mercado Libre teams on identifying threatened species and continuously updating lists of prohibited wildlife products, aligned with CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) and local legislation.
Results and ongoing commitment
In the first half of 2025, Mercado Libre removed more than 80,000 irregular contents related to flora, fauna, and their derived products policy from its platform, preventing significant environmental impacts. Furthermore, Mercado Libre collaborates with local police and environmental authorities, providing information for investigations and seeking criminal accountability for offenders.
Combating the illegal trade of wild animals is a cross-sector challenge that requires collaboration between companies, NGOs, governments, and users. Mercado Libre reaffirms its commitment to biodiversity conservation and its efforts to keep its platform safe. In partnership with WWF, Mercado Libre advances in its role as an agent of social transformation.
If any user of the Mercado Libre platform finds a listing that violates the platform’s policies, such as those regarding flora, fauna, and their derived products policy, they may report the listing by clicking the “report” button located at the bottom of the listing page. The responsible team will review the report and, if the violation is confirmed, Mercado Libre will remove the irregular content.
Coalition Celebrates 5 Years
Just days after World Wildlife Day, with a theme of Partnerships for Wildlife Conservation, the Coalition celebrates its five-year anniversary. Growing from 21 partners in 2018 to 47 today, companies in the Coalition blocked or removed more than 11.6 million listings for prohibited wildlife online from March 2018-September 2021. Hear from our partners at Deine Tierwelt, Huya, Mercado Libre, and Pinterest spotlighting some of their activities. More information about the Coalition’s progress can be viewed in the Winter Spotlight Series, 2021 Progress Update, and 2020 Progress Report.
Huya Celebrates World Tiger Day
To mark Global Tiger Day, TRAFFIC helps Huya integrate wildlife conservation into their live streaming platform
This Global Tiger Day, TRAFFIC’s China Office supported Huya launch a series of public awareness-raising activities for protecting wild tigers. At an event attended by national celebrities and social media influencers, live streaming and physical exhibition helped highlight the need for wild tiger conservation and call on the public to pay more attention to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
Huya launched its campaign "Saving Wild Tigers Painting Solicitation" and received hundreds of creative submissions including illustrations, print engravings, and watercolour paintings to help draw attention to issues currently facing tigers. The participants included not only artists but also amateur volunteers, influencers, and their fans on Huya’s live streaming platform, showing the insight and understanding of different groups on wildlife conservation.
On 27th July, together with China Wildlife Conservation Association (CWCA), TRAFFIC, and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), Huya held an art exhibition for selected works from "Saving Wild Tigers Painting Solicitation" and invited Huya’s famous influencer “Sha Yu Yo” as the ambassador for this art exhibition.
Huya will also launch its "Global Tiger Day Awareness Raising Live Streaming" event, featuring Huya’s famous influencer “Zhang Daxian” and domestic conservationists to spread the word on wild tigers conservation to Huya’s customers.
As a new member of the "Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online" last June, Huya has been exploring innovative approaches through live streaming events.
Huya has been exploring fundraising approaches and conservation awareness-building through its live streaming platform. For example, with the support of CWCA and TRAFFIC, Huya launched a live streaming campaign called “Protecting the King in the Forest” with traditional Chinese craftsmen on last year's Global Tiger Day. At the start of 2022, Huya launched the “Protect Our Home Planet” campaign to collaborate with key nature reserves to launch live streaming series, including Earth Day Live Streaming at Northeast Tiger and Leopard National Park and Giant Panda National Park.
Huya has also organised activities for volunteers, including improving their capability on identifying illegal wildlife trade information online and spreading the word about wildlife conservation, reaching over 100,000 volunteers.
"As a leading game live streaming platform in China, Huya is ready to take advantage of our platform and link forces from different sectors to raise public awareness to protect our biodiversity and contribute to sustainable development. In the future, Huya will continue to gather forces from all parties, encourage more people to participate in wildlife conservation and work together to protect our one shared home. " Zhan Xiaoyan, Vice President of the Public Affairs Department of Huya said.
“Since joining the Coalition, Huya has been working hard to build connections with platforms, influencers, customers, volunteers, and NGOs to help raise awareness of wildlife conservation. We hope that more domestic member companies of the Coalition will join Huya, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, and Douyin not only to focus on combatting illegal wildlife trade online but also to harness their platform’s influence to carry out a variety of biodiversity conservation activities and fulfill social responsibility.””