Durban - South African conservation NGO, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), has introduced a novel project that seeks to test the use of restorative justice approaches to wildlife crimes - a first for the country. In South Africa, it is an offence to undertake any prohibited or unauthorised activity in respect of any legally protected species. Offenders can receive sentences of up to 10 years’ imprisonment, fines of up to R10 million, or both. While this serves to punish the offender, the victim’s voice is often lost and it does not address the underlying reasons why the crime was committed, resulting in possible re-offending, and the offender does not directly repair the harm caused to the victim. Restorative justice is an approach that aims to achieve justice by creating an opportunity for the offender to repair the harm caused to the victim as far as possible. It requires an offender to acknowledge wrongdoing and the resultant harm and take steps to remediate that harm.