By Johan Bergenas, Emma Myers, and Amanda Shaver

We are very proud to formally launch the Natural Security Forum.

We want to make our version of the concept of natural security — the geostrategic security implications of environmental crime — a household name in the security and foreign policy debate.

While the Forum is new, our work on natural security goes back for years. We kicked off in 2013 when conceiving Project Ngulia — an anti-poaching enforcement program in Kenya recognized as a Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action.

The goal is to assemble a team to build a new gold standard for the protection of endangered species using technology and innovation.

In parallel we have been part of leading the building of a strategic narrative around environmental crime and U.S. and global security. Our message has been published in the New York Times, Washington Post (twice) and Politico, to mention just a few. Most recently, we released our vision for an environmental crime policy under President Donald Trump.

Since 2015, we have also partnered with organizations like National Geographic to provide policy and technology recommendations to better protect the world’s largest crime scene, our oceans, from illegal fishing.

And the Natural Security Forum team is frequently on the road or on stage to present and discuss natural security challenges and the solution’s set we are building.

Early last year we thought it would be prudent to organize all of our environmental crime work streams under one home and we have worked diligently to build a robust mission and program activities.

For example, as we roll out the Forum’s online platform this spring you can find cutting edge research and analysis, such as the Number Crunch, Get Smart, The Natural Security Podcast, On Record: the Blog, as well as longer-type reports, like the one we published this fall.

But the greatest strength of our efforts is our team and the wide range of partners and collaborators we have lined up. Visit the Natural Security Forum website and watch the video below to learn more: