Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show Dr. Tim Wittig, Ph.D. - United For Wildlife - Applying Data & Intelligence To Defeat Global Wildlife Trafficking
Dr. Tim Wittig, Ph.D. ( https://www.timothywittig.com/ ) is a conservationist, professor, and former defense intelligence analyst. He is a research fellow at Oxford University (Oxford Martin School), an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London, and has served as Head of Intelligence for both the Royal Foundation's United for Wildlife Transport and Financial Taskforces ( https://unitedforwildlife.org/ ), and the wildlife investigations charity Focused Conservation. Dr. Wittig has lived in 8 countries on 3 continents and worked in nearly 50 different countries. His professional background is in research & development and applied sciences, intelligence-led targeting of illicit financial networks, and African and global security. Dr. Wittig began his career in national security, and was one of the first people in the US Intelligence Community (IC) to treat biodiversity and ecosystem collapse as a threat to global security. Since their inception in 2016, Dr. Wittig has played a central role in the United for Wildlife Transport and Financial Taskforces, a groundbreaking program of the Royal Foundation of the Prince & Princess of Wales ( https://royalfoundation.com/ ), to use data and intelligence, alongside high-level formal commitments, to mobilize 200+ of the worlds’ largest banks, maritime shipping companies, and airlines to take meaningful action against global wildlife trafficking. Dr. Wittig conceived of and currently runs the central intelligence sharing system of the both Taskforces. A former tenured professor of International Relations and Humanitarian Action, and a life-long environmentalist and outdoorsman, Dr. Wittig, like many people today, believes reversing the current catastrophic extermination of nature is the single most important issue of our time - a literal life-and-death struggle for the future of our common planet and ultimately humanity itself. Dr. Wittig came to work professionally in conservation a decade ago after observing how the major threats to the environment today - species loss, climate change, pollution, et al - are all underpinned and driven often to a large extent by crime and corruption, illicit networks, and social injustices. And that rigorous, hard-hitting intelligence and data-led analysis of these dynamics, especially when done at scale, will be a game changer in how we confront threats to the world’s wildlife and ecosystems. Dr. Wittig has a BA (High Honors) in History from William & Mary, a M.Litt. in International Security Studies, and PhD in International Relations, both from University of St Andrews.