Newsletter

Vol 2010/03 - June Newsletter

Urbanites Offered a “piece of responsibility”

A “Piece of Responsibility” Skytrain zips through Bangkok

FREELAND Foundation is encouraging workers, urbanites and tourists in Bangkok to consider how their lives depend on nature and to take action to protect it. The newly launched “Piece of Responsibility” campaign uses stunning visuals, striking facts and practical advice to explain some of the critical environmental services wildlife provide, as well as what people can do to protect wildlife and live more harmoniously with nature. Created with pro bono support from advertising agency JWT in cooperation with the inter-governmental ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN), Government of Thailand, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the campaign is being featured (including in-train displays) along the entire network of Bangkok’s BTS Skytrain commuter rail, which carries approximately 700,000 passengers per day.

Vol 2010/02 - April Newsletter

FREELAND Officially Launches its Expanded Mission to End Human and Wildlife Trafficking

The first international conservation and human rights NGO working across Asia and headquartered in Asia was officially launched on March 26th, 2010, at the Bangkok Art and Culture Center. FREELAND Chairman, Kraisak Choonhavan, announced the launch to hundreds of honorable guests and the media with a clear statement: “Trafficking is a crime against nature and humanity. It threatens our freedom and future and cannot be ignored.” FREELAND’s expanded mission is to stop human and wildlife trafficking.

The launch of FREELAND Foundation is coupled with the launch of the organization's latest public awareness campaign "Piece of Responsibility" developed with advertising firm JWT. “Each of us is, and has, a piece of responsibility in this big picture. Piece by piece, we can build a civil world that respects the basic freedoms for all living beings” said FREELAND’s Executive Director, Steven Galster. Advocating personal responsibility for the people and world around us, the campaign has begun at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, followed by major metropolitan public transport links in Bangkok, and is slated to expand throughout the ASEAN region and into China within the next two years.

At the event, guests showed their responsibility by pledging what they would do to help protect human rights and wildlife. Many also donated and/or signed up to join our mangrove tree planting activity on Earth Day.

Vol 2010/01 - February Newsletter

FREELAND Applauds a Groundbreaking Cooperative Effort to Shut Down an Illegal International Ivory Trafficking Operation

Ivory seized from the illegal ivory trade

USAID-supported FREELAND Foundation and the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) assisted Thai and U.S. authorities prosecute 4 ivory traffickers after a series of arrests were conducted between late November and January 17th. The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of California declared charges against a Thai national and an American citizen for violating U.S. federal smuggling statutes, while the Royal Thai Police prosecuted the same Thai national and two more for violating Thailand’s Wild Animal Reservation and Preservation Act B.E.2535, section 20, 23, and 24, and Customs Act B.E.2469, section 27.

From this year-long joint Thai-U.S. investigation with technical support from FREELAND Foundation, authorities recovered six whole, raw endangered African elephant tusks. The tusks weighed 32 kilograms and where valued at more than THB1 million (USD $30,222). Undercover investigators were led to believe that additional and much larger stocks were available.

FREELAND hopes authorities will continue working up the chain, putting the king-pins of this destructive multi-billion dollar trade behind bars before the world is permanently robbed of elephants and other endangered species. We also appeal to consumers to think twice about any ivory they consider buying – despite the sellers claims, it may come from an elephant that was killed recently, just for its tusks.

Vol 2009/06 - December Newsletter

FREELAND helps Thai Police Nab Two Suspected International Ivory Traffickers

Illegal African ivory trade drives poaching of wild elephants

The Royal Thai Police announced the arrest of two Thai nationals on November 16 on suspicion of illegally trading African ivory after a tip-off by U.S. authorities. Their capture followed a year-long joint Thai-U.S. investigation supported by FREELAND Foundation and the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN).

The alleged crime, which spanned three continents, indicates Asia is an evolving international transit point, not just a source, for illegal trade in endangered species and their derivatives. More than 10 metric tons of endangered African elephant ivory has been seized in Southeast Asia over the last year, but no traffickers had been caught until the arrests in Bangkok.

This joint Thai-U.S. law enforcement success underlines the importance of international cooperation to tackle illegal wildlife trade through networks such as the ASEAN-WEN. More than 180 print and online news publications around the world, including the Washington Post covered the arrests.

Vol 2009/05 - October Newsletter

Anti-Wildlife Trafficking Banners Installed Along Thai-Burmese and Thai-Malaysian Borders

Customs officials installing banners to raise awareness about cross-border wildlife crime

Throughout this year, FREELAND has been working with Thai Customs to install eye-catching anti-wildlife trafficking banners in multiple languages at airports and key checkpoints along the shared borders with Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Malaysia. On September 22-23, 2009, 20 banners featuring endangered species and telephone hot line numbers for reporting wildlife crime were distributed to airports and Customs Houses in Thailand's deep South. Banners have also been installed at checkpoints on the Thai-Burma and Thai-Malaysia borders, completing a national rollout designed to increase awareness of the illegality and impacts of trade in protected species, as well as vigilance among Customs officials to act against wildlife trafficking.

FREELAND thanks Thai Customs, Esso (Thailand) Public Company Limited and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for their support of this campaign.