Join EIA On The Front Lines Of Global Eco Crime

Dec. 6, 2011 - PRLog -- LONDON: The risky undercover work of the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is showcased in three new films to be broadcast in the UK on Nat Geo Wild from Thursday, December 15.

A year in the making, the films follow EIA through countries as diverse as Iceland, Japan, Vietnam, Laos, China and Kenya to chronicle new investigations into whaling, illegal logging and the ivory trade.

• Hunt for the Whalers – Nat Geo Wild, December 15 at 8pm
Iceland is hunting endangered fin whales, despite the absence of a domestic market for the resulting meat and blubber; piecing together the evidence, EIA investigators follow the trail to Japan where they discover a new trade in fin whale is being established with the help of Iceland’s whaling kingpin.

• The Real Chainsaw Massacre – Nat Geo Wild, December 22 at 8pm
Vietnam is fast becoming a major player in the global timber industry but, with little of its own forest left, it is largely dependent on importing raw materials. EIA suspects much of this timber is being taken illegally from neighbouring Laos, and uncovers evidence implicating the Vietnamese military as a key player.

• Blood Ivory Smugglers – Nat Geo Wild, December 29 at 8pm
Following an upsurge in elephant poaching and ivory smuggling, EIA sets out to establish what’s really going on. In Kenya’s national parks, it documents the horrific reality of elephant poaching, and in China its covert investigations expose startling information about how the ivory smuggling underworld works and the role of the Chinese Government in driving the black market.

“We are unique among campaigning organisations,” said EIA Executive Director Mary Rice, who led the investigation in Blood Ivory Smugglers. “Nobody else works right at the potentially dangerous sharp end of environmental crime in quite the way we do, going undercover with hidden cameras and covert identities to get hard evidence of environmental crime and expose the international players behind it.

“Louie Psihoyos, director of the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, said of us: ‘In the environmental movement, EIA is the equivalent of Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ – these films dramatically show viewers what he means, while demonstrating just how much a small but tightly focused and endlessly dedicated organisation can achieve.”

Read more about the three films and watch excerpts here http://www.eia-international.org/uk-transmission-dates-fo...

Interviews are available with the investigators featured in each film for stories about EIA’s methods, its unique focus on environmental crime, the dangers of working undercover and the specific cases documented.

Arrangements can also be made for press and media to view the three films online in advance of broadcast.

Contact EIA Press Officer Paul Newman via paulnewman@eia-international.org, or call 020 7354 7960.


EDITORS’ NOTES

1. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is a UK-based Non Governmental Organisation and charitable trust (registered charity number 1040615) that investigates and campaigns against a wide range of environmental crimes, including illegal wildlife trade, illegal logging, hazardous waste, and trade in climate and ozone-altering chemicals.


Environmental Investigation Agency
62-63 Upper Street
London N1 0NY
UK
www.eia-international.org
Tel: +44 207 354 7960
Fax: +44 207 354 7961