Sub-regional wildlife enforcement cooperation Global Snow Leopard Conservation Forum Bishkek, 22-23 October 2013 Sub-regional wildlife enforcement cooperation Pia Jonsson CITES Secretariat UAE-E-Legislation

Transnational Organized Wildlife Crime - a matter of growing concern International organizations have recognized wildlife crime as a serious transnational organized crime. Low risk of detection, low penalties and high profits make this kind of criminality interesting for organized crime. Illegal trade in wildlife has now reached a scale that poses an immediate risk to wildlife and to people.

How to combat transnational wildlife crime? Treating wildlife crime as serious crime - in legislation and through relevant agencies Raising awareness among senior officials on wildlife trafficking Intelligence-based approach Improving investigative techniques and using the full range of enforcement tools Wildlife Enforcement Cooperation and Coordination among law enforcement agencies and wildlife authorities on national, sub-regional, regional and international level. UAE-E-Legislation

What to cooperate about? Awareness raising among law enforcement officers Sharing ideas and best practice Capacity-building, training and workshops Coordination and information exchange at all levels of CITES implementation and enforcement Identify discrepancies in legal trade reports Reporting mechanism for illegal trade Risk assessments Joint operations, cross-border projects

Examples of partners to cooperate with National level CITES/wildlife Authorities Police Customs Prosecutor World Bank country offices Sub-regional / regional level Enforcement networks UNEP regional offices – MEA focal point INTERPOL regional bureaus WCO-RILO, ROCB UNODC regional offices World Bank regional offices International level (ICCWC) CITES-Secretariat INTERPOL WCO UNODC World Bank

International coordinated support - ICCWC The International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime -ICCWC- Collaborative effort by CITES, INTERPOL, UNODC, World Bank, and WCO ICCWC’s letter of agreement refers to supporting national law enforcement agencies, regional wildlife enforcement agreements, bodies and networks in responding to transnational wildlife crime through available expertise and recourses and to raise awareness of wildlife crime. UAE-E-Legislation

International support - CITES The CITES Secretariat has a specific mandate to assist in the development and implementation of regional and subregional law-enforcement agreements AWARE of the important role of ICCWC in bringing coordinated support to the national wildlife law enforcement agencies and to the subregional and regional networks that, on a daily basis, act in defence of natural resources. CITES Resolution 11.3 (Rev CoP 16) on Compliance and Enforcement

International support - CITES-projects CITES Workshop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in December 2011: Countries expressed their interest to establish a Wildlife Enforcement Network for West Asia and one for Central Asia The CITES Secretariat has two on-going projects to assist countries in the development and implementation of sub-regional cooperation: Feasibility study for West Asia Workshop in Kuwait on strengthening regional cooperation to combat wildlife crime in West Asia, 29-31 October 2013 Study by TRAFFIC on behalf of the CITES Secretariat on CITES implementation in the Eurasian Custom Union Final draft report was received 18 October 2013 UAE-E-Legislation

Key international trade routes and neighbouring countries Study: Implementation of CITES in the Eurasian Customs Union (ECU) – Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia – and Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Key international trade routes and neighbouring countries

The CITES Secretariat stands ready, in cooperation with its ICCWC partners, to assist countries in the development and implementation of a Regional Enforcement Network in Central Asia.

Thank you for your attention! Pia Jonsson Email: pia.jonsson@cites.org