Combating wildlife crimes: African forestry officers, institutions, share good practices.

This was in a three-day capacity building workshop organised by the World Wildlife Fund, WWF, which took place in Douala. The workshop had financial support from the Food and Agricultural Organisation, FAO, Regional Office for Africa.

The workshop held under the theme: “Enhancing regional capacity in combating illicit trade in wild fauna and flora”, 

It saw the participation of experts from Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife, MINEFOP, African Union Commission, WWF, World Customs Organisation, WCO, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, Interpol, TRAFFIC and other relevant stakeholders.

Experts noted that wildlife crimes, illicit exploitation and trade of forest species is today amongst the leading forms of transnational organised crime alongside trafficking in drugs, arms and humans. 

Dr Jeremy Mbairamadji, FAO Forestry Officer for Central Africa, noted that, over the years, the menace on fauna, has had direct and indirect impacts on Africa’s natural resources and heritage as well as the continent’s legal and sustainable use of wildlife and potential revenue. 

"It remains the greatest threat to populations of endangered wild species and has wide-ranging indirect impacts on African societies, economies, and the environment. Those directly affected are the population in the rural localities, that is the why we are coming together from all African sub-regions to see how we can intensify the fight against forest exploitation," he said. 

In many African countries, the livelihoods and socio-economic development of communities in both rural and urban areas depend heavily on the use of wild fauna and flora resources, thus the loss of African wildlife directly or indirectly affects the livelihoods of African people. The illegal trade in Africa’s natural resources also deprives African States of revenues, hindering economic growth.

In June 2015, the African Union adopted the African Strategy on Combating Illegal Exploitation and Trade in Wildlife Fauna and Flora. It had raised concerns on the unsustainable use of African wild fauna and flora, and the increase of illegal trade in wild flora and fauna 

However, despite this initiative, Martin Kabaluapa, County Director of WWF-DRC, said, many African states lack the capacity to regulate the exploitation of their natural resources.

"Illegal exploitation and trade in wild fauna and flora promote impunity and undermine development, the rule of law, governance, integrity, and regional and inter-regional cooperation in Africa. Taking advantage of weaknesses in national law enforcement and justice systems, wildlife traffickers make billions of dollars using routes and techniques used by other criminals who traffic other illicit commodities. Their activities are often closely interlinked with money laundering, corruption, murder and extreme violence that contribute to instability in African countries by funding insurgencies and even terrorism," he noted. 

The workshop was therefore timely as the 25 participants representing cooperation of Africa’s wildlife authorities from EAC, ECCAS, ECOWAS and SADC had their capacity scaled up in combating wildlife and forest crime on the continent.

The workshop set the ground for increased sharing of experiences and knowledge amongst participants on modus operandi employed by illegal wildlife traders and traffickers and common enforcement strategies developed. 

They also enhanced operational links and or networking among them to better address transnational organised crime. It was also useful in raising stronger awareness of political leaders, policy decision-makers and other relevant stakeholders in Africa on combatting wildlife crime.