Compliance officers and others seeking to protect their organisations from the risks of financial crime related to illegal wildlife trade can now take a free introductory online training programme and gain a certificate.

The ambitiously named "Ending Illegal Wildlife Trade Certificate" focuses on illegal financial flows associated with illegal wildlife trade.

Developed by leading international conservation organisation WWF and ACAMS, a global association of financial crime prevention professionals, the two-hour self-paced course covers: 

• Understanding the illegal wildlife trade and its consequences
• Understanding the financial elements of how wildlife crime manifests
• Identifying organisational risks and exposure to the illegal wildlife trade
• Examining existing typologies and red flags along with global case studies
• Reporting suspicious activity associated with the trade

The Basel Institute's Green Corruption team, which draws on deep and long experience in financial crime, anti-money laundering, compliance and the illegal wildlife trade, is delighted to have supported ACAMS and WWF in the development of the course, in partnership with The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and United for Wildlife.

Gretta Fenner, the Basel Institute's Managing Director, said:

“Financial crime is what makes illegal wildlife trade both possible and attractive. Curbing financial crime in the context of IWT and many other forms of environmental crime - through prevention and enforcement - is at the heart of the Basel Institute’s Green Corruption programme. We are therefore delighted to support ACAMS and WWF together with United for Wildlife in the development of the Ending Illegal Wildlife Trade certificate. It is a vital step in helping the global compliance community, including ACAMS' members globally, get ahead of the curve in efforts to prevent, detect and respond to financial crimes that fuel IWT. The challenge is huge - it’s with multi-stakeholder partnerships like this, which span across many communities and bring together experts from a wide range of professions, that we stand a chance to succeed.”

You can find more details and quotes from our partners in the press release or go straight to the Ending Illegal Wildlife Trade certificate programme on the ACAMS learning platform.