Johannesburg, 27 September 2016 – A powerful group of international agencies met this week in the margins of CITES #CoP17 to discuss how best to integrate law enforcement, development, environmental and social approaches to combating illegal wildlife trade.

The first ever Global Partnerships Coordination Forum was convened by the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), a collaboration between the CITES Secretariat, INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Bank and the World Customs Organization (WCO).

The Global Partnerships Coordination Forum took place alongside the Conference of the Parties (or CoP17), where delegates will decide on trade controls affecting close to 500 species, including many plants and animals illegally trafficked across borders by international criminal syndicates.

“Wildlife crime increasingly involves transnational criminal groups targeting high value species and wildlife and environment agencies cannot beat them alone. This Forum provided a unique opportunity for officials to directly engage with the organisations that have the mandate, resources and technical expertise to assist countries in combating wildlife crime,” said John E. Scanlon, Secretary-General of CITES.

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