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The United Nations has named March 3, Sunday, as World Wildlife Day.This year’s theme is “Life below water,” and events took pace Friday at the United Nations in New York and around the globe.

They include shoreline trash collection in British Columbia, a photo contest on the shores of  Lake Victoria in Uganda and a youth art competition. Siem Reap, Cambodia will host a “day of exciting wildlife awareness activities and game for kids.” With the aquatic theme, the event’s film festival offers movies on whales, overfishing, penguins and pollution. Find trailers for many on the event’s video channel.

National Whistleblower Center and the International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement (INECE) offered a webinar Tuesday on using whistleblowers address wildlife crimes like poaching, overfishing, habitat destruction and trafficking. The center’s Global Wildlife Whistleblower Program partners with conservation and anti-trafficking groups to expand and strengthen wildlife whistleblower programs. They see whistleblower rewards as a powerful but underused tool that could bolster the enforcement of wildlife protection laws.Continue Reading On World Wildlife Day, a reminder that whistleblowers can help protect turtles, dolphins and other marine species

In late 2017, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York (considered one of America’s most important judicial districts) settled a case against Notations, a garment wholesaler. In a case originally brought by a qui tam relator (a.k.a. a whistleblower), Notations admitted to ignoring repeated warning signs that its Chinese importer was lying about the value of its imported goods to avoid paying customs fees. As a result, Notations has agreed to pay $1 million in fees.
Continue Reading Customs Fraud, Wildlife Crime, and the Value of Whistleblowers

Part of the “Quick Peek” Series, exploring the NEW edition of Stephen Kohn‘s Whistleblower’s Handbook.

Whistleblowers are the key to ending wildlife trafficking and Stephen Kohn, the executive director of the National Whistleblower Center, knows it. There are over forty U.S. wildlife protection laws with Whistleblower rewards built into them. Unfortunately, for over 30 years no one has used reward provisions to activate whistleblowers to report wildlife crime (the first such provision was added the Lacey Act in 1981).
Continue Reading Rule 12: Get a Reward! End Wildlife Trafficking.

“Why Wildlife Whistleblower Rewards Need Work,” by National Whistleblower Center Executive Director, Stephen M. Kohn, and Chief Operating Officer, Ashley Binetti, is now live on Law360.  This article highlights the need for effective implementation and enforcement of wildlife whistleblower reward laws.
Continue Reading Law360 Publishes National Whistleblower Center Wildlife Article

Earth Day Texas, or EDTx 2017, will take place Friday, April 21st – Sunday, April 23rd, 2017, in Dallas, Texas.  EDTx is notably “the world’s largest annual forum for sharing the latest initiatives, discoveries, research, innovations, policies and corporate practices that are reshaping the future.”

This year’s agenda is packed with presentations from over 225 experts and thought leaders and 850 exhibitors.  The National Whistleblower Center’s Chief Operating Officer, Ashley Binetti, will speak on the Global Wildlife Defense panel this Saturday, April 22nd from 4:00pm – 5:00pm. The panel will showcase global efforts that support wildlife habitat and defend their existence against human interference of any kind.  Binetti will discuss how empowering wildlife whistleblowers is the key to combating the global extinction crisis.Continue Reading NWC Speaking at EDTx 2017

Washington, D.C. January 26, 2017. The National Whistleblower Center (NWC) announced today that it received a significant grant from The Wildcat Foundation. This grant will provide primary funding for the NWC’s Global Wildlife Whistleblower Program.  The NWC’s emerging Global Wildlife Whistleblower Program counters wildlife crime and promotes conservation by harnessing the power of whistleblower reward laws.
Continue Reading Wildcat Foundation Awards Grant for Global Wildlife Whistleblower Program

This morning, National Whistleblower Center (NWC) Executive Director Stephen Kohn addressed the Federal Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking, a group of private sector experts charged with advising the Presidential Task Force on a multi-pronged approach to combat wildlife trafficking. The Task Force, co-chaired by the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Interior, and the Attorney General (or designees thereof), was created through Executive Order 13648 and recently codified in the Eliminate, Neutralize and Disrupt [END] Wildlife Trafficking Act of 2016. Kohn presented on harnessing the power of wildlife whistleblower reward laws to reverse the extinction crisis.
Continue Reading NWC Presents Whistleblower Rewards before Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking

Today, the National Whistleblower Center (NWC) released its End-of-Year Report, filled with whistleblower successes from 2016.  In the past year, the NWC continued its mission to strengthen whistleblower protections and incentives, defend whistleblowers’ rights, and educate people at home and abroad about the power of whistleblowers in combatting fraud and corruption.
Continue Reading NWC Releases End-of-Year Report Boasting Whistleblower Successes of 2016