BACKGROUND BRIEFING: Meet the Aussie experts tackling wildlife and environmental crime

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-11-13 10:00

Australia; SA

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

*BRIEFING ONLINE at 10:00 AEDT on Thu 13 Nov 2025* Australia is home to some of the world's most unique and rare species, but this also puts us at high risk of illegal wildlife and environmental trade. Wildlife and environmental crime poses serious threats to native flora and fauna, as well as causing substantial costs to industry - with illegal logging costing the global timber industry around AU$150 billion annually, and the global illegal trade in wildlife estimated to be worth AU$32 billion. November 15 is the International Day for the Prevention of and Fight Against All Forms of Transnational Organised Crime, and Aussie researchers are working behind the scenes to expose, prevent and disrupt wildlife and environmental crime. Join the briefing to hear from the researchers at the Wildlilfe Crime Research Hub.

Media release

From: Australian Science Media Centre

Speakers:

Professor Phill Cassey, Director, Wildlife Crime Research Hub, University of Adelaide
Ms Katie Smith, Research Program Manager, Wildlife Crime Research Hub, University of Adelaide
Dr Sebastian Chekunov, Research Lead, Wildlife Crime Research Hub, University of Adelaide
Ms Charlotte Lassaline, PhD research student, Wildlife Crime Research Hub, University of Adelaide

Date: Thu 13 Nov 2025
Start Time: 10:00am AEDT
Duration: Approx 45 min

For further information, please contact the AusSMC on 08 7120 8666 or email info@smc.org.au.

Briefings are free to attend, but if you like what we do, you can d onate to the Australian Science Media Centre here

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Organisation/s: The University of Adelaide, Wildlife Crime Research Hub

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