Analyzing Donor Funding Towards the Illegal Wildlife Trade
The Global Wildlife Program promotes integrated approaches among the international donor community to tackle illegal wildlife trade. GWP hosts regular meetings and has published several documents that contribute to better understanding and coordination between donors and maximizes efforts against illegal wildlife trade.
Most recently, in 2025, the World Bank published the third edition of the Illegal Wildlife Trade Donor Investment Analysis following earlier reviews in 2016 and 2018.
The report summarizes the status of international donor funding in combating illegal wildlife trade from January 2010–June 2023. It assesses international donor funding in Africa, Asia, and—for the first time—Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as cross-regional and global investment. Since 2010, 73 international donors have invested over $3.63 billion in combating illegal wildlife trade, the equivalent of an annual average of $269 million.
The three analyses provide information on geographic and thematic funding flows, and in its second edition this effort also included a deep dive into some of the projects funded by the donor community and the lessons learned over the course of the projects. To view the case studies that have documented these best practices, check out this interactive tool with filtering by category, including donor type, intervention criteria, and country.
In June 2024, Strengthening National-Level Donor and Development Partner Coordination to Combat Illegal Wildlife Trade was published to help fill a knowledge gap on national coordination mechanisms for illegal wildlife trade. This guidance note shares experiences and case studies on strengthening national-level donor and development partner coordination and presents a diversity of mechanisms to combat illegal wildlife trade.
Donor Meetings
The World Bank Group organizes quarterly donor meetings as a collaborative platform for individual international donors to share updates on their portfolios and exchange insights and lessons. These meetings aim to foster synergies and enhance the effectiveness of funding to counter wildlife trafficking.
Donor Coordination in Action
Through these vivid and interactive "story maps" you can explore a few of our World Bank Group and GEF-funded projects.
Mozambique Conservation Areas for Biodiversity and Development (MozBio)
This case study is about a five-year World Bank Group and GEF-funded MozBio project that addresses some of the most pressing challenges to conservation areas in Mozambique, which cover 25 percent of the country.
The Second Lao Environment and Social Project (LENS2)
This case study is on the World Bank Group and GEF-funded $38.83 million project to help strengthen management of protected areas, wildlife law enforcement, and environmental protection systems. LENS2 aims to improve the capacity and coordination between public institutions, civil society, and concerned communities to manage protected areas and enforce wildlife laws.
