Join The Explorers Club on Monday, March 11th to hear how a dynamic organization is taking down the criminal networks that profit from the trafficking of wildlife, timber and fish–and convincing governments to pay attention.
Vulnerable species are being trafficked to the point of extinction, while our oceans are plundered, and illegal logging devastates huge swathes of the last ancient forests. These environmental crimes impact every nation on Earth and have a catastrophic effect on our planet’s biodiversity, with far-reaching consequences for our climate, public health, and international security and stability.
Despite the clear dangers they pose, wildlife crime, fisheries crime and illegal logging remain an appealing business for transnational criminal networks. For the networks, these crimes are low-risk, high-reward ventures, worth an estimated 1-2 trillion USD per year. We are approaching the point of no return: climate change, biodiversity loss and wildlife crime affect every living thing. Time is running out and we won’t get a second chance.
Join the Wildlife Justice Commission’s Executive Director Olivia Swaak-Goldman on the front lines of the fight against wildlife crime and learn how wildlife crime fighters are defending our planet’s biodiversity through cutting-edge intelligence analysis and criminal investigations.
Streaming live here on explorers.org, our YouTube Channel, and our Facebook Live — Monday, March 11th at 7:00 pm ET.
RESERVATIONS
This will be an in-person lecture at Explorers Club Headquarters.
In-person tickets are $15 for Members, and $30 for the General Public.
Check-in will begin at 6:00 pm, with a beer and wine reception from 6:00 – 7:00 pm
Olivia Swaak-Goldman
In 2016, Olivia Swaak-Goldman turned her almost three decades of experience in international justice and diplomacy, working on issues such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, to another major, yet lesser known issue – wildlife crime. As Executive Director of non-profit the Wildlife Justice Commission, Olivia leads a lean and efficient team of law enforcement experts, investigators, crime analysts, advocates and lawyers working successfully to disrupt and help dismantle the transnational criminal networks trading in wildlife, timber and fish.
Prior to joining the Wildlife Justice Commission, Olivia was Head of the International Relations Task Force of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Senior Legal Advisor at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Legal Advisor at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, and Legal Assistant at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Olivia has published extensively on issues of international criminal law and international humanitarian law and served as a lecturer at both Harvard and Leiden Universities. She received a BA with honours in Political Science from Trinity College, a JD summa cum laude from Washington College of Law at American University, and a LLM with honours from the University of Amsterdam. Olivia, a registered attorney in New York and DC, is a dual national of the US and the Netherlands.
