The IUCN CEESP/SSC Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (IUCN SULi) and Regional Programme for West and Central Africa (IUCN PACO), International Institute of Environment and Development (IIED), TRAFFIC - the wildlife trade monitoring network, and the Network for Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa (NESDA - Cameroon), are holding a regional workshop for West and Central Africa to explore how best to engage indigenous peoples andlocal communities that live close to wildlife in efforts to combat illegal wildlife trade.

This workshop is supported by the Austrian Ministry of the Environment and the German Polifund project, implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB).

We are inviting potential participants to submit summaries of relevant analyses, case studies and experiences that they would be interested to present at the workshop.

Dates: 24th-25th February 2016

Venue: Close to Douala, Cameroon (exact venue TBC)

MEETING OBJECTIVES

The objective of this meeting is to improve understanding and guidance on how indigenous peoples and local communities can be engaged as active partners in protecting wildlife against IWT, through collecting and examining regional experiences and case studies.

This regional workshop will build on an international symposium on this topic held in Muldersdrift, South Africa, in February 2015 (see http://pubs.iied.org/G03903.html) which brought together experiences and case studies of different community engagement approaches. The Muldersdrift meeting highlighted the need for more focused regional exploration of the issues in order to contribute to an international effort toward raising awareness of and attention to the role of indigenous peoples and local communities in effective and just responses to IWT.

REGIONAL FOCUS

The countries of West and Central Africa.

CALL FOR WORKSHOP PARTICIPATION

We are seeking analyses, case studies, and experiences of efforts to involve indigenous peoples and localcommunities in tackling illegal wildlife trade. We are particularly interested in exploring approaches that have worked – and the underlying reasons for their success – and approaches that have not been found to be effective. We are also interested in case studies that document the impact on indigenous peoples andlocal communities of external efforts to control illegal wildlife trade (eg the impacts of private sector or government led anti-poaching patrols). The focus is on international illegal wildlife trade (ie wildlife trade that involves cross-border transactions), and NOT illegal use of wildlife for local subsistence use or trade (e.g. local bushmeat trade)...

Please download the Document here below: