Neotas Assists EIA Combat Wildlife Trafficking
Neotas are proud to support and assist the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) in their efforts to investigate environmental crime. In a recent report published by EIA, they highlighted the threat towards Asia’s leopard population. The leopard numbers are shrinking as they are hunted and killed illegally to meet the growing demand for their body parts. A number of Chinese pharmaceutical companies named in the report list leopard bone as an ingredient for their medical products.
Neotas supported EIA’s work by using our in-house experts and technology to investigate the international links between potential actors involved in the trade. We also investigated the ownership structure of the companies involved, revealing shareholder and ultimately beneficial owner information.
“As the full scale of China’s domestic leopard bone trade and the companies involved remained largely unknown, EIA determined to document the trade as comprehensively and systematically as possible[…]”
‘A Bitter Pill to Swallow: China’s flagrant trade in leopard bone products’, April 2020, Environmental Investigation Agency
The report aims to highlight the rapid decline in the leopard population numbers and the need to revisit trade regulations in key locations. From the findings, the Environmental Investigation Agency were able to report a list of recommendations for the Chinese government and to the companies involved, which they hope will lead to a decrease in current practices.
We were really pleased to be able to help the Environmental Investigation Agency with their important work on this project. It was great to use our specialist OSINT powered enhanced due diligence for good and we hope our assistance can lead to significant, real-world change.
If you have a project you think we could help you with, or if you would like to speak with us about our Enhanced Due Diligence services in greater detail, please feel free to schedule a call with us here.
To find out more about environmental action taken by EIA on Asian big cats, click here.
