Thorny Issues Live

Thorny Issues Live will bring you into the heart of hot topics in rhino conservation. In our first live event, we’re diving into an issue that affects us all: the Covid-19 outbreak. As tourism shuts down and people’s behaviour shifts dramatically the world over, we want to understand what the true impact of this pandemic on the trade in illegal wildlife. Hear from expert speakers across the world to find out.

Topic of discussion:

Stopping illegal wildlife markets in a post-Covid-19 world.

Speakers:

  • Anchor: Riz Khan, Independent journalist for BBC, CNN and Aljazeera

Riz Khan is an international journalist, author, and public speaker recognised across the globe for having had flagship TV interview shows on CNN International and Al Jazeera English – of which he was a Founding Director. Prior to that Riz had an extensive career with the BBC as a correspondent and founding presenter of BBC World (he co-presented the launch show of BBC World Service TV News in November 1991). At both the BBC and CNN, Riz was the first international male TV news presenter of  South Asian descent. Since 2012, Riz has focussed on a number of projects, that include media content creation, high-level event moderating, media training and communications consultancy, as well as his philanthropic project that involved the creation and launch of a high-quality, ethically-produced clothing brand aimed saving endangered rhinos: horni underwear.

  • Jon Taylor, Deputy Director, Save the Rhino International

Jon is Save the Rhino’s Deputy Director and leads our work on stopping illegal markets for rhino products. Jon has over 25 years’ experience in conservation, working with organisations including the World Bank, WWF and ZSL. He has worked extensively on tackling threats like climate change, and on protecting habitats and species from Irish peat bogs to Asian forests, from Atlantic whales to tigers and elephants. And rhinos! Jon focusses on trying to see through the complexity of 21stcentury conservation, to understand how we can most effectively protect those things that must not be lost.

  • Quyen Vu, Executive Director, Education for Nature Vietnam

Quyen Vu is a Founder and the Executive Director of Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV), Vietnam’s first local  environmental non-governmental organization. ENV uses a multifaceted partnership approach to combat illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam. Thanks to the commitment and hard work of ENV’s staff, thousands of wild animals have been confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade, and dozens of wildlife traffickers have been prosecuted. Quyen earned a Master’s Degree in Conservation Geography from the University of Missouri in 2010. She received the prestigious Maurice Laing Award in 2001, which was presented to her by HRH Princess Anne. In 2006, Quyen was featured as one of Asia’s Eco-heroes in Time Magazine.

  • Aron White, Wildlife Campaigner, Environmental Investigations Agency

Aron is a Wildlife Campaigner and China Specialist at the Environmental Investigation Agency. Aron has worked on wildlife trade and conservation issues for over five years, and started his conservation career as the Michael Hearn Intern at Save the Rhino in 2014-15. Aron holds a degree in Chinese from the University of Cambridge, and has lived in Beijing and Taipei. Aron’s work at EIA focuses primarily on trade in big cats, and wildlife trade more generally in China. He has been following wildlife policy developments in the wake of Covid-19 closely, and his work in 2020 so far as covered multiple policy analyses and recommendations, as well as a bilingual report revealing the role of traditional Chinese medicine companies and government agencies in commercial trade in leopard bone.

  • Sabri Zain, Director of Policy, TRAFFIC

Sabri Zain has 30 years’ communications, campaign and policy experience in wildlife conservation. He began his working career as a media relations executive with IBM in Malaysia in 1988 and entered the conservation field in 1992 when he joined WWF Malaysia. In 1999, Sabri joined TRAFFIC International based in Cambridge. As TRAFFIC’s Director of Policy, Sabri is responsible for leading the development, implementation and coordination of TRAFFIC’s wildlife trade policy programmes and priorities, as well as leading its policy interventions at high-level events, regional fora (such as the European Union, African Union and ASEAN) and major international conventions such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Sabri is also responsible for TRAFFIC’s engagement and collaborations with relevant international organisations such as the OECD, INTERPOL and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).