News Room

ROUTES From Take Off to Touch Down: Video and Report

Jan 14, 2022 · News Item

Before 2015, there was very little awareness of wildlife trafficking via air transport among the aviation industry, but the formation of the USAID Reducing ...

New mobile reporting app is helping combat wildlife trafficking and corruption in aviation

Nov 18, 2021 · News Item

A consortium of NGOs and industry partners have pooled their expertise to create Wildlife Sentinel: an app to help staff at airports, airlines, and other ...

Aviation industry’s global message to wildlife traffickers: “It Doesn’t Fly With Us!”

Sep 21, 2021 · News Item

September 22, 2021 – This World Rhino Day, airports and airlines across the world come together to denounce the illegal wildlife trade and voice that they are ...

Key players in Latin America and the Caribbean’s aviation industry connect to address wildlife trafficking

Aug 18, 2021 · News Item

On August 3-4, over 50 representatives from aviation stakeholders in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) including airports, airlines, governments and NGOs, ...

Kenya Airways and ROUTES partner in a campaign to protect African wildlife

Aug 12, 2021 · News Item

Nairobi, Kenya, August 12 - On World Elephant Day 2021, Kenya Airways declare why and how they’re striving to secure their flights against the illegal wildlife ...

ROUTES July 2021 Newsletter

Jul 29, 2021 · News Item

This issue, packed with highly valuable guidance resources, newly translated training materials and notable industry action, is an impressive summary of ...

New spotlight video series: meet the aviation companies striving to protect wildlife from trafficking

Jun 04, 2021 · News Item

June 4 - Tomorrow is World Environment Day – an ideal opportunity to celebrate some of the ROUTES partners that are championing the cause to keep illegal ...

ROUTES launches ‘Step Up to Stop Wildlife Trafficking’ campaign

Jun 02, 2021 · News Item

ROUTES and United For Wildlife have launched a new engagement campaign aimed at aviation companies wanting to take action to end wildlife trafficking in air ...

Taking Off: trafficking trends to watch out for in Latin America and the Caribbean

May 19, 2021 · News Item

New research reveals how traffickers are robbing the world’s most wildlife-rich region of its natural wealth. Mexico, Brazil and Colombia see the highest ...

Major Japanese aviation companies strengthen their defenses against wildlife trafficking

May 04, 2021 · News Item

Tokyo, Japan, 4th May: All Nippon Airways (ANA), Narita International Airport (NAA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) are striving to keep illegal wildlife out of the ...

Shared Skies: Insights from wildlife trafficking in air transport can help address other forms of smuggling

Mar 17, 2021 · News Item

Washington, D.C. - The latest brief from ROUTES demonstrates that examining the links between different trafficking operations including wildlife, drugs and ...

ROUTES hosts first webinar for Latin America and Caribbean aviation industry

Feb 05, 2021 · News Item

On Tuesday February 2, the USAID Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species (ROUTES) Partnership co-hosted a webinar aimed at aviation ...

ROUTES February 2021 Newsletter

Feb 02, 2021 · News Item

Take a look at the February 2021 edition of our newsletter for the latest resources and updates from across the Partnership. As always, please do not hesitate ...

ROUTES extends its work into Latin America and the Caribbean

Jan 20, 2021 · News Item

The ROUTES Partnership is seeking to engage with key air transport and relevant stakeholders in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region, to develop a ...

REPORT: COVID-19 Underscores Global Need to Combat Animal Smuggling in Aviation

Sep 02, 2020 · News Item

Many in the air transport sector have stepped up as global leaders in the fight against wildlife trafficking, which may prove critical to helping mitigate ...

Covid-19 should be a warning to prevent illegal animal trade, say experts

Aug 27, 2020 · News Item

The National - The illegal trade of wild animals and exotic pet markets is putting the world at risk of further pandemics like Covid-19, experts have warned.

ROUTES July Newsletter

Jul 23, 2020 · News Item

Please find information on new resources, and more, below in the latest edition of the ROUTES newsletter. As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to the ...

Wildlife trafficking soars as illegal dealers use unchecked hubs in southern Africa

Jul 23, 2020 · News Item

Independent: Guyanese finches are almost always smuggled in hair curlers from Guyana to New York, while pig-nosed turtles are trafficked in high amounts, ...

Excess Baggage: How wildlife is trafficked by air in and out of India

Jul 23, 2020 · News Item

Mongabay: India is among the top 20 countries for the illegal wildlife trade and its fast expanding airport sector is often used by wildlife traffickers to ...

Stricter control of wildlife trade needed to reduce virus risk

Jul 23, 2020 · News Item

Nature Middle East: COVID-19 has put the illegal wildlife trade under the spotlight by highlighting the threat posed to human health.

ROUTES April Newsletter Update

Apr 30, 2020 · News Item

As a Partnership committed to helping the aviation industry combat wildlife trafficking, ROUTES is closely monitoring the science and impact of Covid-19. In ...

Runway to Extinction: Airports and Airlines in Every Region of the World Can Assist with Fighting Wildlife Trafficking

Apr 15, 2020 · News Item

Washington, D.C.— Last year, more than one million illegal wildlife products and live animals were seized from wildlife traffickers at airports, with ...

AirAsia adds momentum to the effort to combat wildlife trafficking

Apr 03, 2020 · News Item

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 23rd March 2020–TRAFFIC recently joined forces with low-cost carrier AirAsia to equip its staff with the knowledge and tools to help ...

USAID BIJAK Raises Awareness of Wildlife Trafficking at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Indonesia

Mar 09, 2020 · News Item

3 March 2020 - USAID BIJAK launched a two-week photo exhibit, an interactive wildlife trafficking display and two short videos on wildlife trafficking in the ...

Air Transport Companies in Southern Africa Commit to Tackle Illegal Wildlife Trade

Feb 12, 2020 · News Item

Johannesburg, February 2020 – The United for Wildlife (UfW) Transport Taskforce and the USAID Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered ...

All Nippon Airways and Narita International Airport initiative to combat wildlife trafficking

Dec 17, 2019 · News Item

Tokyo, Japan 17th December 2019—All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Narita International Airport Corporation (NAA), which manages the Narita International Airport, ...

FEATURE: Combatting Wildlife Trafficking in the Air Transport Sector

Dec 05, 2019 · News Item

ECAC News - Global air connectivity has opened the doors to tourism, business, cultural exchange and a host of other opportunities. Unfortunately, this has ...

Four more airports pledge to join fight against illegal wildlife trafficking

Dec 02, 2019 · News Item

ACI World - Toronto, Sydney, Munich and Hong Kong sign Buckingham Palace Declaration

PODCAST: What can the African aviation industry do to reduce wildlife trafficking?

Nov 04, 2019 · News Item

AviaDev Africa CEO Jon Howell interviews ROUTES Training Lead Claire Beastall on location at the ACI Africa General Assembly Conference in Accra, Ghana. Learn ...

Airports across Africa convene to take action against wildlife trafficking

Oct 21, 2019 · News Item

Accra, Ghana— Recognizing the urgency of the wildlife trafficking crisis, more than 50 participants from airports across Africa attended a workshop hosted by ...

FIATA Launches Digital Course for Freight Forwarders to Prevent Wildlife Trafficking

Oct 21, 2019 · News Item

Cape Town, South Africa, 4th October 2019—FIATA, the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations, launched a new digital course “Prevention of ...

Countering Wildlife Trafficking: The Sky is Off-Limits

Jun 19, 2019 · News Item

Meghan van Aardt, ACI - There has been a multi-billion dollar industry traveling covertly throughout the world’s airports: wildlife trafficking. Wildlife ...

ROUTES and C4ADS Launch First-Ever Data Dashboard of Wildlife Trafficking in the Air Transport Sector

May 29, 2019 · News Item

WASHINGTON, 29 May 2019— The USAID Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species (ROUTES) Partnership and C4ADS today launched the ...

USAID ROUTES, Airports Council International, and Hong Kong International Airport train air transport staff to detect and report wildlife trafficking

Mar 29, 2019 · News Item

HONG KONG, 29 March 2018— To help detect and report smugglers carrying wildlife and wildlife products through Hong Kong, the USAID Reducing Opportunities for ...

Illegal wildlife trade: overview of airport assessments

Mar 08, 2019 · News Item

4 March 2019 - Studies have shown that the air mode has become a sought-after transport avenue for criminals wishing to move illicit wildlife products from one ...

Qatar Airways Launches Industry-Leading Staff Training Programme To Tackle Global Wildlife Crime

Mar 07, 2019 · News Item

DOHA, Qatar, 26 February 2019 - Qatar Airways has launched an industry-leading training programme focused on preventing illegal wildlife trafficking. The ...

How Wildlife Traffickers Use Chinese New Year

Mar 07, 2019 · News Item

8 February 2019 - Abalone will be on the banquet table of many Chinese families celebrating Spring Festival this year. The sea mollusc will probably have been ...

Airports Council International and the ROUTES Partnership Train Airport Leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean on Combating Wildlife Trafficking

Sep 11, 2018 · News Item

Miami, Florida, 11 September 2018—In order to help combat the transport of illegal wildlife products, the USAID Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport ...

Wildlife Traffickers Exploiting Vulnerabilities in the Air Transport Sector Worldwide

Aug 02, 2018 · News Item

Rhino seizures in 2017 increased three-fold from the year before, while airports in more than 130 countries experienced wildlife trafficking incidents in the ...

ACI World: Disrupting Illegal Wildlife Trafficking through the air transport sector

Jul 26, 2018 · News Item

July 2018 - At the 26th Meeting of the ACI World General Assembly, ACI member airports adopted a resolution against illegal wildlife trafficking, reaffirming ...

African Aerospace Magazine: Combatting the Trafficking of Illegal Wildlife

Jul 26, 2018 · News Item

July 2018 - Wildlife Trafficking is worth up to $21 billion USD and affects 7,000 species. Read the ROUTES feature article from African Aerospace Magazine. ...

ROUTES and Turkish Airlines install a life-size installation and host training for transport staff to learn how to detect and report wildlife trafficking

Jul 04, 2018 · News Item

Istanbul, Turkey, June 29, 2018- To help detect and report smugglers carrying wildlife and wildlife products through Turkey, the USAID Reducing Opportunities ...

ROUTES calls on airline industry to help stop the trafficking of wildlife

Jun 14, 2018 · News Item

June 14, 2018 - Engineering News - ROUTES has called on airlines and airports to work together to stop widespread wildlife trafficking.

Etihad Airways Develops Industry E-Learning Course to Combat Wildlife Trafficking

Jun 05, 2018 · News Item

June 5, 2018 - Recognizing that wildlife traffickers are exploiting the interconnected air transport sector, Etihad Airways has developed a new 20-minute ...

ROUTES trains transport staff in Malawi as part of IATA Day

May 31, 2018 · News Item

Lilongwe, Malawi, May 22, 2018- To help detect and stop smugglers carrying ivory, rhino horn, and other wildlife products out of Malawi, the USAID Reducing ...

THE RACE TO (WILD) LIFE

Apr 26, 2018 · News Item

April 26, 2018 - In Aviation and Allied Business Journal, Michelle Owen, ROUTES Lead, explores the trends in global wildlife trafficking, giving the African ...

USAID ROUTES Partnership to present at AviaDev Africa

Mar 07, 2018 · News Item

March 7, 2018 - AviaDev-the only forum that is dedicated to growing air connectivity to, from and within the African continent -is delighted to announce the ...

ROUTES Partnership and Kenya Airways train transport staff to help curb wildlife trafficking

Mar 01, 2018 · News Item

Nairobi, Kenya, March 1, 2018- To help detect and stop smugglers carrying ivory, rhino horn, and other wildlife products out of Kenya, the USAID Reducing ...

LAM To Help Curb Wildlife Trafficking in Mozambique

Feb 27, 2018 · News Item

MAPUTO, Mozambique, 27th February 2018 — Today, the USAID Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species (ROUTES) Partnership delivered a ...

ROUTES Workshop with Singapore Airlines Raises Awareness of Need to Combat Wildlife Trafficking

Jan 30, 2018 · News Item

Supporting the worldwide effort to combat wildlife trafficking, Singapore Airlines worked with the USAID Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of ...

Combatting Wildlife Trafficking Among USAID's "10 Best" in 2017

Jan 11, 2018 · News Item

In 2017, new collaborations and strong interest from the transport sector provided hope for highly-trafficked endangered species. The USAID Reducing ...

Busy end of year for transport sector initiatives to curb wildlife crime

Jan 10, 2018 · News Item

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, January 2018—TRAFFIC’s collaboration with the global transport and logistics sector through the USAID Reducing Opportunities for ...

Stopping Wildlife Crime Across the Airways

Oct 09, 2017 · News Item

With World Animal Day on 4 October, Etihad Airways' in-flight magazine looks at the devastating impact of wildlife trafficking and the efforts being made to ...

New Installation Raises Awareness of Wildlife Trafficking at Johannesburg Airport

Aug 07, 2017 · News Item

Johannesburg, South Africa - ROUTES recently unveiled a new awareness campaign for staff at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport to combat wildlife ...

Wildlife traffickers are flying under the radar at airports worldwide

Jul 12, 2017 · News Item

Is there an ongoing problem with wildlife trafficking at airports? ROUTES and International Airport Review investigate further…

Wildlife traffickers continue to profit from vulnerabilities in the global air transportation system

Jun 13, 2017 · News Item

Illegal wildlife trafficking – the fourth largest black market in the world and worth over $20 billion annually to criminal organisations – is now widespread ...

Wildlife Traffickers Exploiting Airlines Worldwide

May 17, 2017 · News Item

A new analysis of global airport wildlife seizure and trafficking data reveals that wildlife traffickers around the world are heavily exploiting the air ...

Focus: Illegal wildlife trafficking - Killing by numbers

Apr 18, 2017 · News Item

The trade in illegal wildlife is estimated to be worth at least $19bn a year. In 2016, over 5,300 kilos of illegal ivory and rhino horn, and over 16,000 ...

Trapping Illegal Wildlife Traders

Apr 06, 2017 · News Item

April 2017 - Members of the air cargo community have led the way in denouncing the illegal wildlife trade, estimated to be worth USD19 billion a year, and ...

ROUTES Representation at EU Action Plan Against Wildlife Trafficking Anniversary Event

Apr 06, 2017 · News Item

February 22, 2017, Brussels-On February 8, the European Commission’s (EC) Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO) marked the ...

Communications Materials Available for Travel and Tourism Industry

Apr 06, 2017 · News Item

February 16, 2017- Last month, the U.S. Wildlife Trafficking Alliance released a “Know Before You Go/ Ask Before You Buy” communications toolkit designed to ...

Airline Industry in South Africa and Vietnam Increase Efforts to Stop Wildlife Trafficking

Apr 06, 2017 · News Item

Johannesburg, South Africa, 30th September – As world conservation leaders meet to discuss the fate of endangered species at the Convention on International ...