News

For use of the media only; not an official document. Elephant poaching doubled & illegal ivory trade tripled in recent years Enhanced law Enforcement, international collaboration and reducing demand required to avert crisis Bangkok, 6 March 2013— Populations of elephants in Africa continue to be under severe threat as the illegal trade in ivory grows - with double the numbers of elephants killed and triple the amounts of ivory seized, over the last decade. According to a new report entitled

For use of the media only; not an official document. Geneva, 28 November 2011 – The Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), John E. Scanlon, praised today INTERPOL and the World Bank for the launching of Project Predator, a global enforcement initiative to protect and save the world’s last surviving wild tigers. “We are heartened by this initiative which has our full support”, said Mr Scanlon. “The work of INTERPOL

For use of the media only; not an official document. Geneva, 2 July 2013 – The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) welcomes the Executive Order on Combating Wildlife Trafficking issued by the President of the United States, Barack Obama, on 1 July 2013. The Executive Order addresses both its domestic and international response to the current surge in wildlife trafficking. The Executive Order establishes a Presidential Task Force on

For use of the media only; not an official document. Bangkok, 5 March 2013 – The executive heads of a consortium established to combat wildlife crime met alongside the triennial Conference of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Senior officials from the CITES Secretariat, INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Bank and the World Customs Organization (WCO) convened in Bangkok to discuss the future strategy of

In response to the need to take new approaches to combat the illegal trade more effectively, the International Consortium on Combatting Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), at the request of Sri Lanka, deployed its first Wildlife Incident Support Teams (WIST). The WIST was aimed at collecting DNA samples from 359 elephant tusks that were seized by Sri Lanka Customs authorities in the port of Colombo and was in response to a Decision adopted by the Conference of the Parties to CITES at

The International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) convened the world's Wildlife Enforcement Networks for the first time in the margins of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in March 2013 in Bangkok, Thailand. The First Global Meeting of the Wildlife Enforcement Networks (WENs), which brought together 131 participants from around the world, enabled wildlife law enforcement officers and WEN representatives to share their experiences at

For use of the media only; not an official document. Vienna , 23 April 2013 – At the current Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ), the heads of two United Nations bodies called on countries to recognize wildlife and forest crimes as a serious form of organized crime and strengthen penalties against criminal syndicates and networks profiting from such illegal trade. Following a side-event at the CCPCJ on this issue, Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the United Nations

Cutting-edge training in investigation techniques has been delivered to wildlife law enforcement officials across Asia, helping them in their battle to halt transnational organized wildlife and forest crime. Over the past few years, there have been a number of successful seizures and arrests of wildlife traffickers at airports, seaports and border crossings in Asia, Africa and other regions of the world. These typically result from risk analysis or actionable intelligence of an individual traveling with illegal wildlife such as ivory

Wildlife and forest crime is increasingly organised and is demanding a more determined and coordinated enforcement response. The International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) will host two major events at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) at the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES to be held from 3 to 14 March in Bangkok, Thailand. ICCWC will convene a roundtable on combating transnational organized wildlife and forest crime for Ministers and high-level representatives, to

For use of the media only; not an official document. Bangkok (Thailand), 14 February 2012 - Police and customs heads from 13 Asian countries agreed today to tighten controls and improve cross-border cooperation to curb the illegal smuggling of tigers and other critically endangered species. The accord came at the conclusion of the two-day international "Heads of Police and Customs Seminar on Tiger Crime", which brought together top Police and Customs Officers from countries that still have tigers living in