Globally, 72–90% of wildlife products (by volume) are trafficked by sea. Hong Kong hosts the world’s 8th largest container port, and is a key node in global transport and financial networks, acting as a bottleneck for trade and financial flows related to wildlife crime.

Our mission is to tackle the economic and logistics frameworks that underpin the illegal wildlife trade. We work to impair trafficking operations by making them more difficult and costly.

Valued at $7-23 US billion per year, wildlife is the world’s fourth-largest illegal trade after firearms, drugs and human trafficking.

Globally, 72–90% of wildlife products (by volume) are trafficked by sea. Hong Kong hosts the world’s 8th largest container port, and is a key node in global transport and financial networks, acting as a bottleneck for trade and financial flows related to wildlife crime.

Since its formal launch in 2021, the IWT Hub has developed innovative partnerships with leading global organizations such as the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), TRAFFIC, INTERPOL, and the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). These collaborations have led to groundbreaking financial investigation tools, AI-driven cargo screening solutions, and policy advocacy that directly enhance counter-IWT efforts across the Asia-Pacific region.