More than 200 law enforcement officers will be trained in the handling of animals seized during anti-wildlife trafficking operations. The Republic of Congo is one of three countries to benefit from the project, which is managed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) with funding from the US State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).
Toute l'actu sur la protection de l'environnement
More than 200 law enforcement officers will be trained in the handling of animals seized during anti-wildlife trafficking operations. The Republic of Congo is one of three countries to benefit from the project, which is managed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) with funding from the US State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).
Law enforcement officers often find themselves on the front line of dealing with live wildlife seized from trafficking rings. Despite their dedication to protecting wildlife, these officers often lack the skills to provide effective assistance.
To address this, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has announced that it will train more than 200 law enforcement officers to handle animals seized during anti-trafficking operations. Without being precise about the dates, IFAW indicates that these trainings will take place in Indonesia, Congo and Guyana (a country located in South America), high places of trafficking of protected species, where pangolins, parrots and primates are particularly sought after on the illegal market. The participants in the training are ecoguards, customs and border control officers, and police officers.
The use of confiscation kits
During the 13 training sessions, participants will learn how to use confiscation kits designed by IFAW and its partners to reduce biosecurity risks, ensure animal welfare and preserve the integrity of evidence. The kits are designed to protect both animals and people. Each kit contains personal protective equipment, animal first aid supplies, and equipment for collecting forensic evidence.
The trainings are part of the Confiscated Animals – Rescue & Enforcement Trainings (CARE) project, which is currently being implemented by IFAW with funding from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL).
« Sadly, many wild animals seized from trafficking networks do not survive, due to poor handling and lack of knowledge about their care. That’s why INL is supporting the initiative to train frontline officers in the handling of seized wildlife, led by IFAW and its local partners, » says Lisa Spratt, Head of Wildlife Trafficking in INL’s Global Programs and Policy Office.
To implement the CARE project locally, IFAW has partnered with the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN) in Indonesia, the Jane Goodall Institute in Congo, and government officials in Guyana.
Fanta Mabo
The Republic of Congo will soon have a harmonised framework for the implementation of the green economy. Actors from various backgrounds were consulted to this effect on 31 March 2023 in Brazzaville. The workshop, co-organised by the Congolese Ministry of Forest Economy and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was held within the framework of the Regional Programme for the Environment in Central Africa (CARPE).
The Republic of Congo has abundant natural resources and rich biodiversity. To reconcile economic requirements with ecological imperatives, the Central African country is opting to set up a harmonised framework for the development of the green economy. For the record, this type of economy includes two types of activities. Traditional activities carried out with less polluting or less energy-consuming processes, and eco-activities, whose purpose is to protect the environment or manage natural resources.
To this end, the Congolese government, through its Ministry of Forest Economy, organised a consultation workshop on 31 March 2023 in Brazzaville. The aim was to identify the best way to put in place a harmonised, multi-stakeholder and multi-scale national framework to support the development and implementation of green economy strategies and best practices.
Support from USAID
The Brazzaville workshop was part of the Conservation through Economic Empowerment in the Republic of Congo (CEERC) project, which helps communities in wildlife and forest-rich areas to seize economic opportunities, obtain a level playing field and increase the value of their products in order to reap the full economic and social benefits.
This project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as part of its participation in the Central African Regional Environment Programme (CARPE).
In June 2022, in the context of this cooperation in the field of the green economy, USAID released an envelope of 28 million dollars (about 17 billion CFA francs) for the Congo. Allocated under the Sustainable Development Goal Grant Agreement (SDGGA) between Congo and the United States of America, the funds support conservation, biodiversity, sustainable management of forest resources and the development of entrepreneurship in the green economy sector.
Fanta Mabo
CONGO: Towards a national framework for the implementation of the green economy
The Republic of Congo will soon have a harmonised framework for the implementation of the green economy. Actors from various backgrounds were consulted to this effect on 31 March 2023 in Brazzaville. The workshop, co-organised by the Congolese Ministry of Forest Economy and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was held within the framework of the Regional Programme for the Environment in Central Africa (CARPE).
The United States of America and Tanzania launched the Heshimu Bahari (Swahili for « respect the oceans ») project on April 4, 2023. With a five-year implementation period and initial funding of $8.4 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the project aims to strengthen the conservation of Tanzania’s coastal biodiversity.
Tanzania’s 1,424 kilometers of coastline are the target of a new biodiversity protection project. Heshimu Bahari (Swahili for « respect the oceans ») was launched on April 4, 2023, by Tanzanian and U.S. officials. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided initial funding of $8.4 million for the five-year project.
Focused on conserving marine biodiversity through the active participation of local communities, Heshimu Bahari will address the many threats to Tanzania’s marine ecosystems, promoting gender-equitable development approaches, addressing overfishing that has deeply damaged key coastal fisheries, and mitigating the impact of climate change that is disrupting ecosystems and livelihoods, impacting the country’s tourism potential.
Falling fisheries resources reinforce inequalities
The launch of the project comes during a working visit to Tanzania by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff, the second American gentleman. At the launch ceremony in Dar es Salaam, a port city in eastern Tanzania, Douglas Emhoff said that his interactions with women in the fishing and coastal sectors made him realize that most of them face obstacles and are still underpaid, which results in increased gender inequality.
According to official data, fishing represents 2-5% of Tanzania’s gross domestic product (GDP). Nevertheless, it ensures the direct survival of a significant part of the population, estimated at more than 5 million people, which makes it a strategic sector.
Fanta Mabo
TANZANIA: USAID releases $8.4 million for coastal biodiversity conservation
The United States of America and Tanzania launched the Heshimu Bahari (Swahili for « respect the oceans ») project on April 4, 2023. With a five-year implementation period and initial funding of $8.4 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the project aims to strengthen the conservation of Tanzania’s coastal biodiversity.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has adopted a resolution on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The text, sponsored by five countries including Morocco, aims to commit states to adopt an effective legal framework and policies at the national and local levels to ensure the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
The Kingdom of Morocco deploys its green diplomacy in international forums. This is the case of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), where the North African country has given its sponsorship to a text on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
Morocco’s sponsorship is in addition to those granted by four other countries, namely Costa Rica, the Maldives, Slovenia and Switzerland. This green and convergent diplomacy has finally paid off. On April 4, 2023, during its 52nd session, the UNHRC adopted a resolution on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
The resolution, although not legally binding, commits States to take various measures to ensure the respect of the right to a healthy environment. These include, among others, strengthening environmental protection capacities and cooperating more with other States, the United Nations system, sectoral organizations and agencies; integrating information on human rights and the environment into the school system; promoting and intensifying environmental action based on human rights; making the judicial sector better able to understand the relationship between man and the environment; and fostering the emergence of a nature-friendly private sector.
Recognized as a human right
A clean, healthy and sustainable environment is considered a prerequisite for the realization of other human rights, including the right to life, food, health and an adequate standard of living. This is partly reflected in the statement on the right to health in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which states that all states must ensure the realization of the right to health by, inter alia, improving all aspects of environmental health.
Furthermore, this prerequisite was recognized as a human right by the UNCHR on October 8, 2021 and by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on July 28, 2022.
Fanta Mabo
MOROCCO: Kingdom promotes the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has adopted a resolution on the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. The text, sponsored by five countries including Morocco, aims to commit states to adopt an effective legal framework and policies at the national and local levels to ensure the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.
Four individuals involved in the illegal trafficking of four ivory tips were arrested on April 5 and 6, 2023 in Makokou, a town in northeastern Gabon. The elephant population in Gabon remains threatened despite regular ivory seizures by Water and Forestry agents. This observation has led civil society to explore actions upstream of the ivory trade process.
In Gabon, efforts to fight crime related to protected wildlife species have just resulted in new arrests. A joint team of agents from the Water and Forestry Administration and the Judicial Police in the province of Ogooué-Ivindo in northeastern Gabon has just dismantled an ivory trafficking circuit operating in the town of Makokou.
A total of four individuals involved in the commercialization of ivory were arrested on April 5 and 6, 2023. The first was arrested with four ivory tips, two of which were whole and two cut into pieces. Overwhelmed by this arrest, he revealed the details of this case. He confirmed that he was the owner of part of the ivory found in his possession. The driver was also arrested at the same time. On April 6, the owner of the severed ivories and another intermediary were arrested in turn.
Arrested with the technical assistance of Conservation Justice, all of these suspects are being prosecuted for possession, attempted commercialization, as well as complicity in possession and complicity in attempted commercialization of ivory tips. Articles 390 and 392 of the new Gabonese penal code provide for a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a fine equivalent to five times the market value of the ivory spikes found in their possession. It should be noted that a pair of ivory tips can easily be traded for 22,500 euros, according to estimates by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW).
Reducing the demand for ivory in China
Gabon’s elephant population remains threatened despite regular ivory seizures by Water and Forestry officials. Since 2010, Conservation Justice has helped seize 754 elephant tusks, totaling over 3.5 tons of ivory. According to Gaspard Abitsi, executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in Gabon, this trafficking is mainly aimed at international markets. The new measures adopted in recent years at the international level are aimed precisely at curbing this demand. « In recent years, many efforts have been made, including in the United States of America in 2016 with the measures that were taken to ban domestic ivory markets, and in China, which also took steps to ban these official state markets in 2018. All of these decisions are helping to reduce demand. Because for poaching to occur, there has to be a market, and that market is often driven by demand. Naturally, countries like Gabon, which are home to forest elephant species, are the supply side, » he said.
In Gabon, the legislator has strengthened the legal framework in 2019 by increasing the maximum penalty from 6 months in prison to up to 10 years in prison. This measure is intended to deter those tempted to engage in this traffic.
Fanta Mabo
GABON: Four suspected ivory traffickers arrested in Makokou
Four individuals involved in the illegal trafficking of four ivory tips were arrested on April 5 and 6, 2023 in Makokou, a town in northeastern Gabon. The elephant population in Gabon remains threatened despite regular ivory seizures by Water and Forestry agents. This observation has led civil society to explore actions upstream of the ivory trade process.