On the 4th December, a $10 million fund has been announced by the African Wildlife Foundation to be put into targeting poachers. Craig Sholley, the organisation’s vice president for marketing and philanthropy has said that the fund will be used in specific ways: Stop the Killing, Stop the Trafficking, and Stop the Demand.
- Stop The Killing: Designed to address the poaching occurring on the ground in Africa
- Stop The Trafficking: Money being put into stopping the illegal wildlife trafficking happening across the country borders and out of the continent.
- Stop The Demand: Designed to target the large markets in Asian countries
With the money and attention also being put into technology and scientific measures that could be put in place to cut down on poaching, I think this is a really good step forward. It might be the opinion of some that the money could be spent in better situations, such as going towards dealing with the Ebola outbreak currently still raging through Africa… but as money does not work like that, and the funds that a country has have to be split up in certain ways, this is the best of times (in fact, potentially the only possible time) for money to be involved. There is still time left at the moment to make a difference, after all. And making a difference is what is really needed.
Photo Credit: AWF
War On Blood Ivory 