Pauline Verheij is an independent consultant with more than 20 years of experience tackling environmental, wildlife and forest crime.
An environmental lawyer by training, Pauline has applied her skills in a variety of positions in the public, private and civil society sectors. Organisations she has worked with include the Dutch Police (Serious Environmental Crime Unit); the Dutch public prosecutors’ office (Fraud and Environmental Crime department); TRAFFIC; the Wildlife Justice Commission and IFAW.
In 2012, Pauline started her own consultancy EcoJust to provide technical assistance on wildlife and forest crime issues to NGOs and (inter-)governmental organisations.
Pauline has conducted a wide array of studies on topics ranging from wildlife cybercrime, jaguar and other wildlife trafficking in Bolivia and Suriname, ivory and rhino horn trafficking in The Netherlands, Rosewood trafficking in Madagascar and the interaction between wildlife crime and insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa. She was furthermore involved in the design and establishment of the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) based in The Hague. As the WJC’s Senior Legal Investigator she was responsible for compiling the evidential case file in their first investigation of a transnational organised wildlife crime network in Vietnam.
Between 2020 and 2021 she assisted the UNODC’s Law Enforcement Assistance Programme to Reduce Tropical Deforestation (LEAP) in strengthening the capacity of states to prevent and combat forestry related crime.
EcoJust’s clients include the UNODC, World Bank, the European Commission, the Dutch police, WCS, WWF, IFAW, the Wildlife Justice Commission and IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands.
Clients
Al Jazeera documentary about rhino poaching featuring Pauline
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Pauline is a member of the Network of Experts of the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime and a correspondent for INECE (International Network for Environmental Compliance and Enforcement).
Pauline is also a member of the IUCN Commission on Environmental Law and the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication and was a board member of the Moroccan Primate Conservation foundation from 2013 until its dissolution in 2019.
In July 2019 Pauline received an award from the IUCN Commission on Education and Communication for her efforts to highlight the nature, scale and impacts of environmental crime.
