PRESS RELEASE
On 18 November, alongside the 19th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CoP19) that is taking place in Panama from the 14th – 22nd November 2022, Botswana and Panama highlighted at an event hosted by the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) how the Consortium has contributed to their enforcement efforts and to enhance their responses to combat wildlife crime in recent years.
Successes include a significant increase in detection of illicit activities online and how authorities have made use of support available to enhance their responses to wildlife crime linked to the Internet. ICCWC also supported 15 of the 36 successful operatives conducted by Panamanian authorities that contributed to the investigation of over 41 wildlife crime cases, seizures of 3,000 pieces of Dalbergia Retusa – known as ‘cocobolo’ in Latin America – and over 15 arrests for illegal logging and timber trafficking.
These are a few of the results that CITES Parties have achieved, thanks to support from ICCWC, a unique partnership between five intergovernmental organizations to strengthen criminal justice systems and provide coordinated support at national, regional and international level to combat wildlife and forest crime.
The Consortium launched at the event the ICCWC Vision 2030: Towards a World Free of Wildlife Crime.
The ICCWC Vision 2030 will guide the Consortium's work in the decade to come, to support Parties efforts to combat wildlife crime and to contribute towards a world free of wildlife crime. It follows a Theory of Change methodology, designed to support and strengthen wildlife authorities, police, customs and entire criminal justice systems to ensure that they are well equipped and capacitated to effectively respond to the threat posed by wildlife crime. Five critical outcomes have been identified in the Vision 2030:
- reduced opportunity for wildlife crime;
- increased deterrence of wildlife crime;
- increased detection of wildlife crime;
- increased disruption and detention of criminals; and
- evidence-based actions, knowledge exchange and collaboration, as a basis for the achievement of the first four outcomes and to drive ICCWC’s impact.
The Rt Hon Thérèse Coffey, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Jorge Rodriguez Romero, Head of Unit of the European Commission, DG Environment, joined Parties and ICCWC partners for the launch of the ICCWC Vision and welcomed the support provided by the Consortium and the development of the ICCWC Vision 2030. At the event DEFRA announced a pledge of £4m towards the ICCWC Vision.
Speaking at the launch, the ICCWC partner organisations highlighted the importance of the Vision 2030 in combating wildlife crime around the world.
Ivonne Higuero, Secretary-General of CITES, highlighted that: “Parties are at the forefront of our efforts and CITES is proud to stand alongside our ICCWC partners to continue to support their hard work to combat wildlife crime. We are extremely grateful to the United Kindgom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland that announced during the event their contribution of 4 million GBP that will kick-start the process. Together we can make a difference, together we can overcome the threat posed by wildlife crime, together we are stronger - this is embodied by the work of ICCWC.”
“ICCWC is not only a mechanism allowing for effective collaboration amongst key international organizations. It is also much more and more importantly, it is about actionable resource bringing concrete benefits to our member countries, and ultimately to the environment and resources that we all depend on,” said Steven Kavanagh, Executive Director Police Services at INTERPOL.
The framework of the ICCWC Vision 2030 provides a roadmap, to be implemented through two 4-year Strategic Action Plans (2023-2026 and 2027-2030) that will enable addressing wildlife crime in a holistic and comprehensive manner.
The Vision aims to contribute significantly to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through the interconnection of wildlife crime to broader environmental and socioeconomic goals and through advocating the importance of criminal justice. Importantly, the work of ICCWC contributes both directly and indirectly to 10 of the 17 SDGs.
“The victims of these crimes are the planet and people; these crimes affect communities and undermine the resilience of ecosystems, and the consequences are severe for our shared future”, said Ghada Fathi Waly, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
“Wildlife crime is at its heart a development issue. We live in a world today where development is slowing, and the ranks of the extreme poor are swelling. And the three reasons behind this are tied inextricably to natural resources and environmental crime”, said Valerie Hickey Global Director, Environment, Natural Resources & Blue Economy at the World Bank Group.
The ICCWC Vision 2030 outlines the next phase in the continuation of ICCWC’s work and follows the ICCWC Strategic Programme that will come to an end in 2023. Implementation of the ICCWC Strategic Programme has been possible through strong support from the European Union, France, Germany, the Principality of Monaco, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America.
To read more about the ICCWC Vision 2030 and its associated Strategic Action Plan 2023-2026, see the following link.
_________________________
Notes to Editor:
For interview requests, please contact David Whitbourn; david.whitbourn [at] un.org (david[dot]whitbourn[at]un[dot]org).
About ICCWC:
The International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), a partnership between the CITES Secretariat, INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Bank and the World Customs Organization (WCO), play a critical role in engaging and working with Parties globally to combat wildlife crime. These five inter-governmental organizations work together under the auspices of ICCWC using a coordinated and cohesive approach, combining their respective mandates, skills, resources and expertise to provide Parties with the tools, services, capacity building and technical support needed to address wildlife crime and bring the criminals involved to justice.
Through technical assistance, tools, training, and operational support, ICCWC works along the entire criminal justice chain, building the capacity of frontline law enforcement in countries and regions around the world affected by wildlife crime.
The ICCWC partners are the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Bank Group (WBG) and the World Customs Organization (WCO).
The work delivered by Consortium through the ICCWC Strategic Programme 2016-2020 has been made possible by the generous financial support of the European Union, France, Germany, the Principality of Monaco, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America.
Find out more about ICCWC by visiting iccwc-wildlifecrime.org.
The CoP19 document on the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) can be found on: https://cites.org/sites/default/files/documents/COP/19/agenda/E-CoP19-17-05.pdf
Connect with ICCWC:
