The purpose of the meeting was to start the process of building more effective and comprehensive national, sub-regional and regional programs to manage wildlife crime by improving global communication and creating a network of wildlife enforcement groups. This will not only aide in the cooperation of neighboring programs which may need to work together to combat a particular issue but will also allow groups to share successful strategies and practices which they can then apply to their efforts. By creating a global network they will also be able to improve efforts to tackle the transnational aspects of wildlife crime.
The Secretary-General of the CITES Secretariat, John E. Scanlon, on behalf of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) that hosted the event, said: “The first global meeting of wildlife enforcement networks is an important step in our collective response to combating serious wildlife and forest crime. Illegal wildlife and forest product trade is escalating, transnational and increasingly well-organized. Coordinated responses that connect and align efforts across borders and organizations provide the best opportunities to combat this serious crime, and protect the species and people at risk because of it.”
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