WildAid

Enforcing marine protected areasthe Wildaid marine program designs effective enforcement solutions to deter illegal fishing and strengthen the protection of priority marine areas for the benefit of endangered wildlife, marine ecosystems, fisheries, and coastal communities. In january-june 2022, we continued making progress towards our goal of strengthening enforcement in 250 conservation-critical marine areas by 2025 and reached a total of 75 sites. This year, we helped forge a partnership between u.s. and bahamian enforcement officials to combat illegal fishing in the caribbean, continued efforts to create sustainable financing for enforcement of the galapagos marine reserve, and celebrated successful sea turtle conservation efforts in coastal ecuador.

Ending the trade in wildlife products:in china, our "year of the tiger" campaign featuring popular actor wu jing received over 3 billion impressions on more than 750,000 billboards and digital screens, reaching over 300 million people across 200 target cities. In thailand we launched the 'cats for sharks', a digital campaign that enlists cats as advocates for sharks. The campaign leverages cats' internet popularity to appeal to the public and inform viewers of how the consumption of sharks is leading to species disappearance and to harmful impacts on the oceans, which could drastically impact the seafood most cats and humans eat. A humorous video psa featuring a cat persuading his owner to stop eating shark fin soup accompanied the social media challenge.

Protect wildlife, prevent pandemics:in january-june 2022, we continued our campaign to permanently close wildlife markets in asia and end commercial, urban bushmeat consumption in africa. We helped build public support for closing wildlife markets, strengthening controls on wildlife trade, furthering restrictions on wildlife trade and consumption, as well as reducing demand for wildlife as food. In vietnam, we launched a new set of campaigns persuading the public to stop consuming wildlife to help avoid future pandemics, including the "guardians of the wild" campaign with an animated video featuring four 4 superheroes protecting villagers from the invasion of millions of legions of ants and termites. The four superhero characters are based on the characteristics of the four asian pangolin species and their special abilities to help the ecosystem based on their real natural abilities: pest control. The video includes unexpected situations, funny scenes, and profound moments with an ending completely different from the usual superhero genres. In africa, we launched new campaigns on reducing urban bushmeat consumption in nigeria and cameroon.

All other programs:wildaid runs various public awareness and behavior change campaigns in key countries in asia and africa designed to enhance public support for anti-poaching efforts and conservation priorities, as well as to reduce climate change impacts. Wildaid also works with partners around the world to protect wildlife and their habitats from imminent threats.