Tech, crypto firms to help tackle illegal wildlife trade

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LONDON, June 22 (Reuters) - A group of leading international technology, crypto and other businesses on Monday announced plans to help stamp out the illegal trade in wildlife.
Announcement made as part of a business forum convened by Prince William and The Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife during London Climate Action Week.
Companies including Google GOOGL.O, Meta META.O, TikTok and Alibaba 9988.HK commit to end trafficking on their platforms. To look for ways to eradicate online listings, including through AI-enabled detection and prevention. 
Represent a fifth of the global e-commerce market and 90% of the world’s social media users.
Vodafone VOD.L, Vodacom VODJ.J, Safaricom SCOM.NR to use AI in anti-money-laundering and transaction monitoring systems across mobile money platform M-Pesa.
Crypto, blockchain analytics firms and payment companies including PayPal PYPL.O, TRM Labs, Chainalysis and Luno commit to disrupt financial flows linked to the illegal wildlife trade.
British Airways ICAG.L and Heathrow to launch a public awareness campaign about the trade.
A United Nations Environment Programme report says trade in wildlife products generates as much as $23 billion annually. Estimated 1 million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction.
David Fein, co-chair of United for Wildlife: "What we see from the private sector today is a recognition that the illegal wildlife trade is both an environmental and a business issue."

(Reporting by Simon Jessop; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
((simon.jessop@thomsonreuters.com; +44 (0) 207 542 5052; Reuters Messaging: Reuters Messaging: simon.jessop.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))