Ivory poaching is a problem wherever we find elephants, and that is no different in India. The ivory taken from the Asian elephants has long been prized in both traditional Chinese medicine and also ivory artefacts.

According to the Global Organized Crime Index, India has low score for Criminal Actors (4.8), but scores highly for Criminal Markets (6.7), where it sits 16th globally. Ivory poaching falls into the category of Fauna Crimes, here India scores 7.0 out of 10, that places the country 25th globally.

But India also has the highest levels of Resilience (5.42) to organized crime in South Asia.

In this episode we discuss an AI-driven technology developed specifically to help combat ivory poaching in India.

Presenter: Thin Lei Win

Speakers: Sharada Balasubramanian, independent environmental journalist.

Links:

(Article) ‘Hawk-eyed: India is fighting its ivory poachers with a powerful tech weapon’

ECOSOLVE project

Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) - Kerala Forest & Wildlife Department takes official charge of ‘HAWK’ to Combat Wildlife Crime

OC Index Country profile(s):

India Country Profile

Additional Links:

The Global Organized Crime Index

The Observatory of Illicit Economies in Central and South Asia (CSA-Obs)

Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime