Geolocation
Use photos and social media posts to trace people, organisations and vessels involved in illegal wildlife trafficking, poaching, or deforestation networks.
Satellite and Drone Imagery
Detect deforestation, illegal mining, or land-use changes by analysing time-lapse satellite imagery. Identify sites of illegal waste dumping, leaks, spills of toxic or hazardous pollutants.
Track Illicit Trade and Trafficking
Use public maritime and aviation data to trace the movement of illegal and environmentally destructive products, such as endangered species, timber, or illegal fishing vessels, uncovering trafficking networks and violations of environmental laws.
Trace Corporate Connections and Hidden Ownership
Investigate supply chains, financial links, and complex corporate structures, including shell companies, to reveal how environmentally harmful activities—such as deforestation, illegal mining, or fossil fuel extraction—are obscured by hidden beneficial ownership and corporate secrecy.
Track Illicit Trade and Trafficking
Use public maritime and aviation data to trace the movement of illegal and environmentally destructive products, such as endangered species, timber, or illegal fishing vessels, uncovering trafficking networks and violations of environmental laws.
Investigate Corruption
Use OSINT tools, including blockchain analysis, to trace corrupt practices, bribery, and illicit financial flows linked to environmental destruction, revealing how funds are moved through cryptocurrencies to see hidden networks which finance and profit from environmental destruction.
Expose Greenwashing
Expose discrepancies between corporate pledges and practices by identifying violations of sustainability pledges, commitments and certification standards.
Who can be a partner?
We are currently open to partnerships with environmental NGOs, non-profits, activists and non-profit media organisations and small-scale investigative journalist outfits.
Do you charge for this service?
No! Collaborations with NGO and non-profit partners are free of charge. We are actively recruiting a network volunteer OSINT investigators who will give their time and expertise for free.
What kinds of investigations are suitable?
Anything that can be achieved by OSINT methods is worthy of consideration. We will discuss with you to narrow down and create a case file which will become the basis of an investigation. We aim to offer three types of investigations:
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Rapid OSINT assistance: suitable for rapid identification/ geolocation of specific leads (e.g. social media accounts, photos)
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On-Going Cases: Complex investigations spanning weeks or months which may expand and change direction as they develop based upon a theme or lead.
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OSINT Challenges: Intensive, multi-day, collaborative centred around a single case or question.
What kinds of results should we expect?
You will receive a detailed report with all the gathered evidence, analysis, and conclusions. Depending on the case, you may receive maps, images, links to public records, and other intelligence to support your efforts in exposing environmental violations.
What kinds of things can we do with the findings?
Investigations should result in actionable intelligence that can be used in reports, exposés, legal actions, or policy advocacy. We aim to provide data and insights that can help you make a stronger case in your fight for environmental justice.
How are findings published?
In the spirit of open-source transparency, all evidence and findings will be made publicly available, including verifiable steps and sources used during the investigation. We will seek to publish an account of the investigations and findings on our website. However, we are happy to have a reasonable delay in publication at our end for you to achieve maximum impact, allowing you to publish or action intelligence first. Note that such agreements would also need to be negotiated with the relevant investigators and a degree of trust would be involved with this.
Who takes credit for the investigation?
Our purpose is to support your work. We ask only that you publicly acknowledge the role of OEI and the investigators when publishing your findings. We request that you provide a link in any outputs to our write-up of the investigation as well as crediting individual investigators (including pseudonymously if requested). This helps investigators build a portfolio and demonstrate their skills as well as spread the work of OEI.
Can we be anonymous?
Open-source investigations align with the ethos of transparency, as their findings are, by definition, public and accessible to all. We therefore prefer to work with organisations who are happy to be openly associated with the investigation and findings.
In certain cases, however, if your organisation conducts covert activities, has an insecure or precarious status, or faces potential threats to individuals or the organisation, we can work with you with the aim of protecting your identity while still delivering actionable intelligence and results. However, we will need to vet your organisation to ensure that it meets our aims of advancing environmental justice and that you are free from potential conflicts of interest. If you require an encrypted channel of communications with us, please use this link for guidance.
Please note however, that while we can accommodate anonymous involvement, investigators may be more motivated if they know who partner organisations are and how the information will be used. Additionally, findings of the investigation will be eventually be made public (though delays can be requested)
What kind of commitment does it involve?
We request that partner organisations provide staff members to assist with the investigations. This includes collaborating with us on the creation of the case files as well as providing a liaison person who can assist, guide and answer technical questions from investigators throughout the course of an investigation. We also request that you update investigators on how the intelligence they uncover has been actioned.
Get In Touch
To find out how OEI can help your organisation please get in touch through the contact form below.