TRAFFIC-Fighting ivory smuggling through capacity building in Central Africa

 

 

Limbe, Cameroon, April 2015—Wildlife law enforcement officers and other agencies involved in law enforcement including police, Customs, gendarmerie and magistrates from five Central African Forest Commission (COMIFAC) countries—Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo and Democratic Republic of Congo—participated in a three day workshop earlier this month in Limbe, South West Region, Cameroon, to learn about the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS).

 

 

ETIS is the world’s most sophisticated database of elephant ivory seizures and is operated by TRAFFIC on behalf of the Parties to CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora).

 

 

Analysis of ETIS data is presented at CITES meetings and helps to identify those countries of concern over their control of trade in elephant ivory and of ivory markets.

 

 

At the workshop opening ceremony, Paulinus Ngeh, Regional Director for TRAFFIC in Central Africa said, “Collection of high quality data for input to ETIS is vital as it underpins the analysis that is used by CITES Parties to CITES to inform their ivory-related decision making processes.” 

 

 

The regional delegate for Forest and Wildlife of Cameroon’s South West region, Mr Samuel Eben Ebai, said: “Receiving training in order to improve our fight against wildlife crime is an important part of the mission of our personnel.”

 

 

Following a brief overview of wildlife trafficking and criminal activity and their impact on people and biodiversity, the workshop focused on the illegal trade of elephant parts—mainly ivory—which is at the core of the wildlife debate in central Africa.

 

 

After refreshing the memory of participants about CITES and presenting the most recent ETIS analysis in order to shed more light on the magnitude of the illegal trade in ivory and elephant specimens, a number of reporting gaps were identified, including genuine surprise over the low levels of reporting by some countries.

 

 

The 46 participants formulated recommendations to improve reporting of data to ETIS, including the need for further trainings at the national level to engage more law enforcement staff and the need for focal points to be established at all levels of the transmission chain of ETIS forms.

 

 

The workshop was organized by TRAFFIC under the auspices of the Cameroon Ministry of Forest and Wildlife. It was implemented in co-operation with GIZ, on behalf of and financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and co- financed by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

 

 

For more Information, please check: HERE

Go back

CBFP News

WWF: Rainforest deforestation more than doubled under cover of coronavirus -DW

Tropical rainforests shrank by 6,500 square kilometers in March — an area seven times the size of Berlin. Criminal groups are taking advantage of the pandemic and the unemployed are getting desperate, the WWF said.

Read more …

Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park Monthly update April 2020

"At a time when many countries are beginning their gradual deconfinement and when there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon of returning to normal life, I wanted to share with you some good news that also fills us with hope for the future of the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park."

Read more …

Resources and follow-up from the virtual FAO-EcoAgriculture Partners Roundtable

Last April 30th FAO and EcoAgriculture Partners organized a virtual Roundtable on Territorial Perspectives for Development, in which over 170 people participated.

Read more …

ATIBT -CBFP: Private Sector mobilized around the CBFP Facilitator of the Federal Republic of Germany

ATIBT co-facilitated the mobilization of the private sector of the timber sector to participate in the first meeting of the private sector college of Congo Basin Forest Partnership with the new facilitator Dr Christian Ruck and his team German Facilitation.

Read more …

Development and institutionalization of a PAFC certification system for the Congo basin: opening of the second public consultation on Sustainable Forest Management Certification Standard, 23 May 2020 - 22 June 2020

This second public consultation will be open for a period of 30 days from tomorrow Saturday the 23rd of May 2020 and will be closed on Monday the 22nd of June 2020. The public consultation is open to all stakeholders of forest management in the Congo Basin interested in participating to the PAFC Congo Basin certification standards development process.

Read more …

Forest defenders on the COVID-19 frontline stand ready to assist the global EU response – Fern

These efforts go hand in hand with ensuring continued responsible management of natural resources and preventing unsustainably and illegally sourced forest commodities. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, forest-monitoring organisations Observatoire de la Gouvernance Forestière (OGF) and Réseau des observateurs indépendants des ressources naturelles (RENOI) are set to carry out COVID awareness-raising in at-risk forest areas, and will also assess COVID’s impact on forest management and governance commitments under the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI). Across the Congo Basin, fears that a proper lack of oversight may put forests and forest peoples in danger are looming despite emerging initiatives.

Read more …

22 May 2020 International Day for Biological Diversity

The theme of the 2020 International Day for Biological Diversity is “Our Solutions are in Nature”. It shows that "Biodiversity remains the answer to a number of sustainable development challenges that we all face. From nature-based solutions to climate, to food and water security, and sustainable livelihoods, biodiversity remains the basis for a sustainable future."

Read more …

CBFP News Archive

2024

There are no news items for this period.