Tag: protocolUNTOC

Historic Victory: Canada Votes YES to Launch UN Treaty Negotiations Against Environmental Crime

Published on by elephanatic
Great news!
we would like to Thank Everyone Who Supported Our ‘Give Wildlife Crime The Severity That It Deserves’ Campaign!

As the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC COP13) wrapped up on Friday, October 23, 2026, breakthrough news came out of UN Headquarters in Vienna: State Parties officially voted to launch negotiations for a historic, first-ever legally binding UN Protocol against Environmental Crime!

The final vote on Resolution L.4 was a decisive victory for global wildlife protection:

  • 🟢 83 IN FAVOUR (Including Canada! 🇨🇦)

  • 🔴 12 Against

  • ⚪ 27 Abstentions

This marks a monumental shift in international law. For years, transnational wildlife trafficking—a $199 billion global black market run by organized criminal syndicates—has been treated as a minor offense. World leaders have now formally recognized that environmental crime is serious, organized transnational crime, requiring coordinated global law enforcement.

Canada Shifted Its Stance – And Your Voices Helped Drive It

What began as a Canadian campaign quickly expanded into a worldwide public action initiative. Partnering with World Elephant Day (Give Wildlife Crime The Severity That It Deserves), Elephanatics scaled our outreach globally so people anywhere in the world could email our government leaders directly and demand action.

The result? Canada didn’t just vote IN FAVOUR in Vienna—the Canadian delegation delivered a strong official statement pledging support for robust international legal frameworks targeting environmental syndicates.

To every single advocate who sent a letter, shared a post, or brought this issue into their classroom: thank you. Your voice made a direct impact on Canadian foreign policy.

What Happens Next? The 2-Year Negotiation Window (2026–2028)

Winning the vote at UNTOC COP13 in Vienna opened the door for global leaders and legal experts to do what they do best.

Over the next two years, the newly established UN Ad Hoc Committee—led by key champion nations like Brazil and supported by legal experts—will draft the official treaty text ahead of COP14 in 2028.

During this technical drafting phase, international experts and coalitions will focus on:

  1. Closing Legal Loopholes: Establishing universal legal definitions, cross-border enforcement protocols, and extradition guidelines to target environmental syndicates.

  2. Amplifying Civil Society: Working with global coalitions like the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime (GIEWC) to submit expert recommendations to drafting committees.

  3. Maintaining Momentum: Encouraging participating nations to stay committed to a strict, enforceable final agreement.

How Elephanatics Will Keep You Updated

Our major public campaign drive reached its milestone victory with the Vienna vote. As diplomats and legal experts take over the technical drafting phase, Elephanatics will pivot to a monitoring, reporting, and amplifying role.

We will track the negotiation rounds, share updates from leading coalitions like GIEWC, and keep our community informed as this historic treaty takes shape between now and 2028.

How You Can Stay Involved:

  • 📧 Subscribe to Our Newsletter: Get periodic, behind-the-scenes updates as treaty negotiations progress between now and 2028.

  • 🍎 Teachers & Educators: Our UNTOC Civic Action Toolkit is still available! It serves as a real-world case study showing students how citizen engagement directly influences global policy.

  • 📲 Follow Us: Stay connected with us on social media for real-time policy alerts.

Together, we have shown that public advocacy works. Thank you for standing with us to secure a safer future for elephants, wildlife and our planet.

Elephanatics Team

Thank You! Our UNTOC Wildlife Crime Campaign Reaches Its Milestone

Published on by elephanatic

On October 9th, our joint campaign with World Elephant Day, ‘Give Wildlife Crime The Severity That It Deserves,’ officially closed its letter-writing drive.

We would like to thank every educator, advocate, student, and supporter who took thirty seconds to email their Member of Parliament, share our posts, or sign our petition.

Because of your action, Canadian ministers and MPs have received an unmistakable message: Canadians are asking their parliamentary members to support a legally binding Wildlife Crime Protocol to strengthen international laws and close the legal loopholes that allow organized crime to exploit global wildlife.

Why This Campaign Mattered: Bridging Global Policy with Local Communities

As highlighted in recent investigative reporting by Mongabay, Canada’s current import framework leaves critical gaps. Under existing laws, importers are not consistently required to prove the legal origin of wildlife at our borders.

Former Canadian Director General of Wildlife Enforcement Sheldon Jordan put it bluntly: under current legal frameworks, import bans are “hardly worth more than the paper they’re written on.” In short, if a species isn’t explicitly listed under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), Canadian border officers cannot legally stop a shipment—even if it was poached or taken illegally from another country. Without mandatory proof of legal origin at our borders, Canada unwittingly acts as a safe harbor for illicit wildlife trade.

This isn’t just an abstract overseas issue—it directly impacts Canadian communities. As featured in our recent publication in the Surrey Now-Leader:

“Across Surrey, residents and local business owners are feeling the weight of rising property crime, gang activity, and illicit trade. Wildlife trade is at the heart of transnational organized crime… A protocol to protect international wildlife is key to cracking down on transnational crime in our own backyards.”

Our campaign demanded a structural, international solution to address both local safety and global conservation:

  1. A Dedicated UNTOC Protocol: Adding a fourth protocol under the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime to target wildlife trafficking syndicates.

  2. Mandatory Cross-Border Verification: Closing legal loopholes so illegal shipments cannot hide behind weak regional laws.

  3. Law Enforcement Severity: Giving enforcement agencies the global intelligence tools needed to freeze criminal assets and dismantle wildlife trafficking networks.

What Happens Next?

While the letter-writing window for this campaign phase has closed, our policy work is just beginning.

Elephanatics is compiling and submitting the letters gathered through this joint initiative with World Elephant Day directly to Canadian decision-makers ahead of the UNTOC Conference of the Parties (CoP13) meetings this month. We are ensuring ministers and MPs hear clearly that their constituents want Canada to lead—not follow—on global environmental justice and international wildlife protection.

Stay Connected
Our educational toolkits and advocacy resources remain live on our site:

  • 🍎 Educators & Parents: You can still access our free UNTOC Education Toolkit to bring conservation policy into the classroom.
  • 🐘 Stay Informed: Subscribe  to receive updates as UNTOC negotiations progress!

The drive to protect global wildlife doesn’t stop here. Thank you for standing with us to make wildlife crime a global priority.

— The Elephanatics Team

Listening to the Voice of Nature: Why Love Requires Law

Published on by elephanatic
"Elephanatics Foundation - Free elephant conservation lesson plans, toolkits for teachers, and persuasive essay resources."
Mother elephant with her calf.

When you look into the eyes of a wild elephant, you get an overwhelming sense of your own humility. During a trip to Kenya’s Maasai Mara, a matriarch charged our jeep, stopping just three feet away. In that heart-stopping moment, our eyes met—a stark reminder that we are in their world, and the only way to truly protect nature and wildlife is to listen to it.

Today, that protection is failing on a global scale. Transnational crime syndicates generate $199 billion annually through illegal wildlife trafficking—often operating through the same organized networks that smuggle weapons, illicit drugs, and human beings, taking advantage of weak laws and low penalties.

Elephanatics and World Elephant Day have collaborated to rally Canadians to demand our government support a binding Wildlife Crime Protocol under the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). With crucial discussions unfolding at the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) this September and leading directly into the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP13) in Vienna this October, your local Member of Parliament needs to hear from you today.

🚨 TAKE 30 SECONDS TO EMAIL YOUR MP NOW 🚨 

  • Click Here to Send the English Letter
  • Cliquez ici pour envoyer la lettre en français

(Your letter is automatically formatted and sent directly to your local Member of Parliament based on your postal code.)

Why We Need Action Ahead of CCPCJ & UNTOC COP13

Today, transnational wildlife trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar criminal enterprise. Poachers and organized syndicates exploit legal loopholes across borders, pushing vulnerable species toward extinction worldwide because international law continues to treat wildlife crime as a minor offense.

After an eight-year campaign, Elephanatics successfully helped push through strict new regulations to end Canada’s trade in elephant ivory and rhino horn in 2024. Now, we must finish the job on the global stage.

A legally binding UNTOC Protocol will:

  • Close Legal Loopholes: Harmonize global laws so traffickers cannot hide behind weak borders.

  • Target Syndicates: Give law enforcement cross-border intelligence tools to freeze cartel assets.

  • Impose Severe Penalties: Treat wildlife crime with the exact same legal severity as human, arms, and drug trafficking.

Stand With Us Before the Fall UN Summits

I will never forget the moment nature challenged me to respect its voice. Now, decision-makers in Ottawa need to hear yours.

👉 Click Here to Email Your MP in English

👉 Cliquez ici pour envoyer la lettre en français

Thank you for taking action today. Every single letter brings us one step closer to real justice.

Fran Duthie

President, Elephanatics Foundation

 

Empowering youth to speak up for wildlife: Our Back-to-School launch

Published on by elephanatic

Empowering Tomorrow’s Change-Makers Today 🍁🐘

As students across British Columbia return to the classroom this September, Elephanatics, in partnership with World Elephant Day, is launching our most crucial educational initiative yet: the Wildlife Crime Civic Action Student Toolkit.

Wildlife trafficking is one of the most lucrative transnational crimes in the world, threatening keystone species like African elephants and destabilizing fragile ecosystems. Real change requires systemic international policy—and our youth have a vital role to play in driving that conversation.

Why This Matters to Every Single One of Us 🌍

It is easy to view wildlife trafficking strictly as an animal welfare issue, but wildlife crime is environmental crime. Elephants and other keystone species are the vital pillars holding entire ecosystems together—ecosystems that produce our clean air, store carbon, maintain soil health, and protect global water cycles.

When criminal syndicates strip ecosystems of their natural biodiversity, they accelerate ecological collapse, increase human exposure to zoonotic diseases, and threaten local communities dependent on natural resources. Fighting for a global UNTOC Wildlife Crime Protocol isn’t just about protecting iconic species; it is about defending the natural systems that sustain human life and safeguarding our shared planet against organized environmental destruction.

A Free, Hands-On Resource for Secondary Classrooms 📚

Designed for Grades 6–12 Science, Social Studies, and English Language Arts, this interdisciplinary resource connects classroom learning directly with real-world civic engagement.

Through engaging modules, students will explore:

  • 🌾 Environmental Crime & Ecosystems: How transnational wildlife trafficking destabilizes global ecosystems, economic security, and public health.

  • 🌐 Organized Crime Syndicates: How multi-billion-dollar criminal networks exploit legal gaps across international borders.

  • ✍️ Civic Action & Democracy: The power of democratic participation through targeted advocacy letter-writing to Canadian government leaders.

Why the Timing Matters ⏳

This October, world leaders are gathering for a major global summit on international organized crime. Ahead of this critical summit, Canadian students have a unique window of opportunity to make their voices heard by writing directly to decision-makers and Members of Parliament, advocating for stronger global laws to shut down wildlife trafficking networks.

How You Can Help Drive Immediate Impact 🚀

Whether you are an educator, parent, or supporter, here is how you can help us reach classrooms this fall:

  • 📣 Share the Toolkit with Teachers: Pass our free curriculum package along to secondary educators, science coordinators, or school principals in your community.

  • 📥 Download the Materials: Explore the lesson plan and letter-writing guides directly on our website.

  • 🌐 Spread the Word: Share our campaign link on social media to build momentum.

👉 Access the Free UNTOC Student Toolkit Here: https://elephanatics.org/untoc-toolkit/#BTS

Thank you for continuing to stand with us as we empower the next generation of global citizens to protect our planet’s wildlife.

Warm regards,

Fran Duthie

President, Elephanatics

Fellow, Royal Canadian Geographical Society

🚨 Give Wildlife Crime the Severity It Deserves 🚨

Published on by elephanatic

The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) is the principal global treaty for fighting international crime networks. Yet, despite transnational wildlife crime generating US$199 billion annually, it remains largely absent from binding global enforcement frameworks. It’s time Canada leads the global effort to establish a dedicated UNTOC Wildlife Crime Protocol and treat trafficking as a serious organized crime.

Click above to open our official UNTOC action letter in a new secure window.

Why Canada Must Act Now

Wildlife crime is no longer just a “poaching” problem—it is a global security threat. 🌎🛡️

Currently, trafficking is often treated as a minor regulatory offense. This allows organized crime syndicates to exploit Canada’s borders with low risk and high reward.

  • The UNTOC Protocol would force a global shift, requiring countries to treat wildlife trafficking with the same legal severity as human or drug trafficking.
  • 🤝 International Cooperation: It would provide law enforcement with better tools for cross-border investigations and intelligence sharing.
  • 📉 Economic Impact: By shutting down a US$199 billion illegal industry, we protect global ecosystems and national economies.

A Powerful Global Collaboration

Elephanatics and World Elephant Day have united to demand real structural change. Both  organizations are dedicated to conservation, education, and advocacy to ensure a safer world for elephants and all threatened species.
Advocating for the UNTOC Protocol is a pivotal moment in our joint mission to alter global law. ⚖️🌿
Currently, existing international agreements cover less than 1% of the world’s species. This leaves millions of animals and plants completely unprotected from heavily armed, highly funded criminal networks.
We cannot do this alone. As we launch this campaign ahead of World Elephant Day, your voice is the most powerful tool we have to ensure Canada leads the way in supporting this vital treaty. 🗣️💪

Thank you for standing with us. Every email sent is a step toward justice.

Take the Mission into the Classroom 🍎📚

Are you an educator or parent? Download our free UNTOC Elephant Education Kit. This comprehensive resource is designed for secondary students to explore the complexities of transnational wildlife crime and the importance of global advocacy. 🏫📖