Capacity building
The term ‘capacity building’ generally constitutes the development of activities and materials that support the acquisition of specific knowledge and skillset to better understand and implement the provisions of the Convention.
Ongoing work
- SC70 Doc.22.1 Capacity building needs of developing countries and countries with economies in transition: Report of the Secretariat
- SC70 Doc. 22.2 Proposed framework to facilitate coordination, transparency and accountability of CITES capacity building efforts (submitted by the United States of America)
- Also see SC70 Inf.2
CITES Virtual College
CITES Virtual College provides access to training tools, references, ID materials, and more.
Financial resources/mechanisms for capacity building
- Global Environment Facility (GEF) Global Wildlife Program: program that addresses illegal wildlife trade across Asia and Africa. About 20 GEF projects are included under GEF-6. There are opportunities for GEF-7 (2018-2022).
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- Global Wildlife Program Booklet
- GEF Global Wildlife Program status as at September 2018 (SC70 Inf.22 - English only)
- GEF-7 Programming Directions (from the GEF Website. See Page 18)
- African Elephant Fund (AEF): Multi-donor trust fund to direct resources for effective implementation of the African Elephant Action Plan (Resolution Conf. 16.9). UNEP provides the secretariat services to the AEF steering committee.
- United States: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services grant opportunities
Capacity needs expressed by Parties
- Developing a coordinated response to wildlife trafficking in West Africa:
- A guide for developing a counter wildlife trafficking response (submitted by Niger to SC70, SC70 Inf.2)
- Recommendations of Member States at ECOWAS meeting in Abuja (submitted by Niger to SC70, SC70 Inf.3)
- Capacity needs assessment: (Decision16.30-31) Questionnaire sent to assess the capacity needs of Parties. 46 Parties responded, and the summary was sent to SC66 for review. >>> Go to the full assessment result (SC66 Doc. 20.2 (Rev. 1)
Degree/diploma courses
- International University of Andalusia (UNIA) Master’s Course in Management and Conservation of Species in Trade: the International Framework. Courses started in April 2020.
(see Notification 2019/031, Course announcement, Enrolment form, Scholarship application, Europass CV)
- University of Kent, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE): MSc in Conservation and International Wildlife Trade
Courses started in September 2019. (See the Course description page at the Univesity of Kent Website.)
Archive of previous financial resources/mechanisms for capacity building
- USA: The Combating Wildlife Trafficking Strategy and Partnerships Branch of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS): - May 2018
- USA: Western Hemisphere Program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS): - May 2018
- United Kingdom Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs: Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund - April 2019
- Darwin Main projects, Post projects, Fellowships and Darwin Plus grant schemes
Secretariat efforts on capacity building
- EU support to CITES-listed marine species (sharks and rays page)
- EU Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) Project
- International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC)
- EU project: Supporting sustainable management of endangered tree species and conservation of the African Elephant
- Notification to Parties No.2017/038 (15 May 2017) implementing Decision 17.34 d)
