Wildlife crime profound threat to nations, says report

The global illegal trade in wildlife

is worth $19bn (£12bn) a year and is threatening the stability of some governments according to new research. Carried out for conservation group WWF, a report highlights a "new wave" of organised wildlife crime by armed groups operating across borders. It says funds from trafficking are being used to finance civil conflicts. The study comes as Malaysian officials captured about 20 tonnes of ivory in one of the biggest seizures ever made.

According to Jim Leape, WWF International director

A conservation project to help

protect the rare Burmese snub-nosed monkey is one of 33 to get a share of UK Government funding. The species was photographed for the first time last year. The project, led by Fauna and Flora International (FFI), will try to establish how many of the monkeys are left and how best to protect them. The money comes from a long-term scheme called the Darwin Initiative. The Burmese snub-nosed monkey was described scientifically for the first time in 2010 from a dead specimen collected by a local hunter. In May 2011 researchers working in northern Burma captured the first pictures of the species in its natural habitat. A team from FFI, Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association (Banca), and People Resources and Conservation Foundation (PRCF) took the images using camera traps.