Geneva, 20 June 2023 – The International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) has launched its Biannual Report for 2021 – 2022, highlighting the successes and achievements of countries supported by ICCWC Partners in combating wildlife and forest crime.
Countries have made good strides in the battle against wildlife crime. The report highlights the work conducted to support law enforcement authorities across the globe to better deter, detect, detain and dismantle the criminal networks involved in wildlife crime. Global efforts have led to many successes and there has been a continued increased collaboration and engagement in activities and efforts to combat wildlife crime supported by ICCWC.
A snapshot of some of the activities showcased in the report include:
- Success Stories
Countries have made significant efforts and achieved a number of successes in their fight to combat wildlife crime. The report highlights four success stories facilitated by ICCWC’s support to countries and regions across the world. These include tackling environmental crime in Africa and Asia, building a case against wildlife crime in Mozambique, combating money laundering and wildlife crime in Cote d’Ivoire and cooperating across borders to fight wildlife crime in Latin America.
- Operation Thunder 2021 and 2022
The annual global crackdowns on wildlife crime conducted in 2021 and 2022 and known as the Thunder Operations are highlighted in the report with a focus on specific seizures from Thunder 2022.
- CITES CoP19
In 2022, the 19th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP19) took place in Panama, with ICCWC hosting a number of high profile events, including the launch of the Vision 2030 and the 4th Global Meeting of Wildlife Enforcement Networks (WENs)
- Updated ICCWC Tools and Services and new ICCWC website
The ICCWC Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit and ICCWC Indicator Framework for Combating Wildlife and Forest Crime were updated in 2022 along with updates to Consortium Partner guides, tools and reports. The Consortium also launched its new website at CoP19.
- Various ICCWC activities worldwide
The report includes highlights of ICCWC’s work on wildlife crime in the fields of crime scene management, combating corruption, cross border coordination, new technologies developed, global wildlife forensics, money laundering and financial crime, and a number of workshops, courses and trainings for wildlife law enforcement officers across the world.
Support was provided by the Consortium based on a targeted approach aimed at strengthening criminal justice systems and providing coordinated support to further enhance responses to combat wildlife crime. This includes technical support, intelligence-led global operations, capacity building, financial investigations trainings, anticorruption risk assessments and the latest forensic science.
Much has been achieved by countries across the globe over the past two years to combat wildlife crime, yet it remains a significant threat. Addressing corruption is important to strengthen law enforcement efforts, as well as improving governance and raising awareness of the negative impacts of wildlife and forest crime. Engaging and empowering those on the front lines and working with countries to provide the tools, services and technical support they need to combat wildlife crime more effectively is essential. Efforts by countries must increasingly focus on investigations, prosecutions and convictions.
The work of ICCWC continues to be crucial, now more than ever. ICCWC is committed to continuing its important work to support countries in the fight against wildlife and forest crime through implementation of the ICCWC Vision 2030 – Towards a World Free of Wildlife Crime as highlighted in the biannual report. The ICCWC Vision 2030 is the Consortium’s ambitious roadmap that will guide the work of ICCWC in the decade to come to ensure that the Consortium continues to take a leading role in providing coordinated global support to the law-enforcement community.
Support provided by the Consortium to countries around the world is made possible thanks to the generous support of European Union, France, Germany, Monaco, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America.
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About ICCWC
ICCWC - The International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime.
ICCWC is a unique partnership of five intergovernmental organizations – 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).
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.
Read the ICCWC Biannual Report 2021 – 2022 here.
Find out more: iccwc-wildlifecrime.org.
About CITES
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was signed on 3 March 1973 and entered into force on 1 July 1975. With 184 Parties (183 countries + the European Union), it remains one of the world's most powerful tools for wildlife conservation through the regulation of international trade in over 40,900 species of wild animals and plants. CITES-listed species are used by people around the world in their daily lives for food, health care, furniture, housing, tourist souvenirs, cosmetics or fashion. CITES seeks to ensure that international trade in such species is sustainable, legal and traceable and contributes to both the livelihoods of the communities that live closest to them and to national economies for a healthy planet and the prosperity of the people in support of UN Sustainable Development Goals