HANOI CONFERENCE
ONILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE
REVIEW OF PROGRESS
HANOICONFERENCE ON ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE
Review of Progress
Contents
Introduction and Executive Summary
A. Eradicating the Market for Illegal Wildlife Products
B. Ensuring Effective Legal Frameworks and Deterrents
C. Strengthening Law Enforcement
D.Sustainable livelihoods and economic development
Annex A: Countries and Organisations which provided Self Assessments for this Report
Annex B: Glossary
Annex C: Participants to the London Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade
Annex D: Participants to the Kasane Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade
Introduction and Executive Summary
In 2014, the Government of the United Kingdom hosted a high-level international conference on illegal wildlife trade in response to a wildlife poaching crisis reaching unprecedented levels. The London Conference aimed to reverse recent trends of increasing illegal wildlife trade through measures to eradicate the market for illegal wildlife products, ensure effective legal frameworks and deterrents, strengthen enforcement, and support sustainable livelihoods and economic development.Members of the British Royal Family, world leaders, and senior officials of more than 40 countries and directors from 11 international intergovernmental organizations[1] attended and adopted the London Declaration on the Illegal Wildlife Trade, which called on the commitment, cooperation and support of all countries and related international organizations to prevent and eradicate trans-border illicit trafficking in wildlife.
Following this ground-breaking conference, the Government of the Republic of Botswana in Kasane hosted a second international conference on illegal wildlife trade at which the Kasane Statement on the Illegal Wildlife Tradewas adopted, in which countries went even further in their commitment in addressing the illegal wildlife trade. Despite a change of date and the remote venue, attendance included vital senior representation from range, transit, and demand states,[2] including the President of Gabon, Vice Presidents of Namibia, Tanzania, and Zambia, and Ministers of 12 other countries, including China, Vietnam, and South Africa.
Both of these conferences delivered beyond expectations and on 17 and 18 November, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is hosting the Hanoi Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade, the third global conference dedicated to this concern. The Hanoi Conference, like those before it, aims to build on and strengthen wider global efforts to tackle the Illegal Wildlife Trade.
As Secretariat to the Hanoi Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade, representatives fromthe Governments of Vietnam and the United Kingdom have worked with partner countries and organisations to compile this Report based on self-assessments by countries that adopted the London Declaration and Kasane Statement, and international organisations working in support of these documents.
This Report is designed to assist countries at the Hanoi conference to have informed discussions about the priorities for future action: strengthening approaches that are working well and identifyingwhere the gaps remain, building on the ground breaking international collaboration that was achieved at the London and Kasane Conferences.
Heads of State from across the globe have lent their voices to addressing illegal wildlife trade(IWT) as these conferences have propelled this issue to the fore. But, real success and progress will only be achieved with full and timely implementation of the commitments made. It is vital that the momentum started in London and driven by Kasane and Hanoi be sustained if the fight against the illegal wildlife trade will succeed.
London Declaration and Kasane Statement: Four main themes at play in the fight against illegal wildlife trade:
Eradicating the market for illegal wildlife products
At theKasaneConference, governments and regional integration organizations reaffirmed their commitment taken at the London Conference to take actions to eradicate both the demand and supply sides for illegal products wherever in the world they occur. The Kasane Statement also recognised the importance of private sector and other actors in eradicating demand for illegal wildlife products, in the value of research to understand market drivers to increase effectiveness of behaviour change strategies, and to strengthen and establish partnerships along the entire trade chain.
This report highlights progress against many of the Kasane Statement commitments to eradicate the market for illegal wildlife products. There have been a number of partnerships that have been established between and among source, transit, and demand countries aimed at reducing demand from the source to the market, and results include domestic ivory bans in more than one country. Both Governments and Inter-Governmental Organizations (IGOs) have formed linkages with the private sector and online retail sources on demand reduction initiatives, reviewing progress in implementation with due diligence checks and fines for non-compliance. A wide variety of species were brought into behaviour change initiatives, raising the profile of highly used, but lesser considered species, such as timber and avian species.
Since the London Conference, there have been several more public destructions of seized illegal wildlife products across the world, many of which included DNA analyses prior to destruction to assist in identifying source to consumer linkages.
At the London Conference, countries agreed that demand reduction campaigns should be designed to include awareness raising and behaviour change, and that actions should be scientific and incorporate research reviewing at users’ values and behaviour. This was echoed by signatories to the London Declaration and Kasane Statement in the 17th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP17) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) through adoption of CoP17 Doc. 18.1 and 18.2creating strategies and guidelines for reducing illegal use of wildlife productsincorporating research into specific values and behaviours into demand reduction initiatives.
There are some examples of countries researching and targeting specific cultural and traditional values in behaviour change campaigns,but there are continuing challenges in reaching individual consumers. The variety of motivating factors for consumption means no ‘one size fits all’ approach to changing behaviour is appropriate.
NGOs continue to play a key role both in raising awareness and in trying to influence and change consumer behaviour. Countries have used a variety of multimedia platforms and workshops to reach consumers, and work has also taken place to bring status and speculation to the fore as reasons for purchase of wildlife products, and to help de-bunk medicinal myths associated with certain illegallytraded wildlife products. Despite this activity, there is not yet evidence of the impact of these strategies on demand reduction for illegal wildlife products or how they complement each other. Further action is needed to monitor and evaluate demand reduction strategies to ensure more targeted impact.
Ensuring effective legal frameworks and deterrents
At the Kasane Conference, governments and regional integration organizationsrecommitted themselves to adopt or amend legislation, where necessary, to ensure that illegal wildlife trade is treated as a serious crime, and further committed thatwildlife offenses be treated as predicate offences for money laundering crimesasdefined by the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC). In line with this commitment, several countries worked together to secure, and in some cases, co-sponsor, UN General Assembly Resolution 69/314 in July 2015, which calls on UN member states to make trafficking in protected species involving organised criminal groups a serious crime, in accordance with UNTOC.Countries reported that changes have been made, or are underway, to laws upgrading wildlife crimes to serious offenses. Some countries also sponsored CITES CoP17 Doc. 28 Prohibiting, preventing and countering corruption facilitatingactivities conducted in violation of the Convention at the CITES CoP17, in furtherance of this commitment. While many countries already have anti-corruption and money-laundering legislation, plans are in place to strengthen these laws in some countries and to train prosecutors and judiciary in anti-corruption as it relates to wildlife trafficking offenses. Several countries have reported on activities undertaken to raise awareness in the judicial sector about the seriousness, impact and potential profits of wildlife crime, and anumber of other countries set out how they are reviewing and strengthening wildlife conservation law including by providing for stiffer penalties including imprisonment and fines for convicted offenders. Countries from supply, transit, and demand countries partnered to support each other in strengthening legislation and providing trainings and workshops on wildlife legislation and associated money-laundering offenses.
The Financial Action Task force, a multilateral organisation dealing with law enforcement and financial crimes, including asset recovery networks, was formally requested by both countries and IGOs to work with countries to create a project on wildlife crime to treat the detection of money laundering and other financial crime as a priority.
There remains a need to ensure that this becomes embedded and that domestic legislation recognises the full range of financial crimes associated with the illegal wildlife trade, so that the serious and organised criminals involved do not benefit from the proceeds of their crimes. In order to strengthen the ability to achieve successful prosecutions and deterrent sanctions across the range of financial crimes associated with the illegal wildlife trade, there is a need to ensure that prosecutors, judges, Financial Intelligence Units, and authorities engaged in law enforcement, have the resources, knowledge and capacity to effectively investigate and prosecute financial crimes associated with wildlife crime. Despite pledges to strengthen and update legislation, corruption and money-laundering remains a limitation in successful implementation of laws and securing prosecutions. These laws must be both strengthened and adhered to at all levels of government.
Strengthening law enforcement
At the Kasane Conference, governments and regional integration organizations recognised the need for a strong and co-ordinated enforcement response, at the site, community, national and international levels, and in source, transit and destination countries, using the fullest capacity of institutions and available tools and techniques, especially providing support to strengthen and enhance the capacities of the International Consortium on Combatting Wildlife Crime(ICCWC). In their progress reports a number of countries reported on increased resources to increase national enforcement capacity, especially through trainings for enforcement officers and rangers, as well as provision of more and better equipped teams of enforcement patrols. Related to this, examples of enhanced national inter-agency co-operation have also been reported, as well as increased cross-border and supply, transit, and demand country co-operation, covering a range of activities including bilateral agreements and regional agreements such as Wildlife Enforcement Networks. Countries saw a direct correlation between increased numbers and capacity of front line enforcement patrols andan increase in detection and seizure of articles used in commission of a crime, and apprehending and prosecuting offenders. One country embedded an attaché among rangers of other countries to assist with day to day training operations.
Countries reported an increase in funding and support for ICCWC, as well as an increase in using ICCWC tools and receiving support for training, such as in wildlife and timber tracking and forensic techniques, from ICCWC partner agencies. Examples were also provided of transnational enforcement operations that have taken place, including those led or supported by ICCWC partners.
The Kasane Statement also encouraged engagement with the transport industry and establishment of industry-wide protocols aimed at developing and strengthening measures eliminating illegal wildlife trade. More than one country reported strengthened relationships with airlines and trucking industries, and on the development of national transport taskforces.
Further efforts continue to be needed in all these areas but one area where a gap remains is between policy makers and on the ground activity, for example, in gathering and effectively sharing data and intelligence, evidence collation and pursuing arrests through to prosecution, as well as sharing knowledge and information across borders and between countries. Enhanced capability at the international level to continue to support and build countries capacity to strengthen their law enforcement efforts, both individually but also collectively, including through enhanced regional cooperation, remains essential.
Sustainable livelihoods and economic development
At the Kasane Conference, governments and regional integration organizations also agreed on the need to address challenges faced by communities, and especially rural populationsthat coexist with wildlife, with the goal of building conservation constituencies and promoting sustainable development. Few respondents replied to this section of the Reporting Template, and this is the least implemented of the four themes of the London Declaration and Kasane Statement.
Of the countries that responded, several supported programmes in their own country or in a partner country that reinforced the role and abilities of community conservancies, including working with community conservancies in creating ranger units to carry out regular patrols and work closely with the government and enforcement authorities, training and equipping community patrols, increasing training and education programmes. One country also introducedtransboundaryknowledge and information management systems with regard to wildlife management to protected areas initiatives, to protect community interests and support community roles in natural resource management.
Retention of benefits from legal trade in wildlife resources by communities was highlighted as a priorityin the Kasane Statement, and some countries reported progress in this area, including legislation reflecting indigenous access to accustomed resources, and community involvement in trade in services, including eco and sustainable tourism. Reports provided valuable lessons learned, but gaps remain and there is room to improve in this area.
The progress reports provide examples of action taken to establish collaborative partnerships among local, regional, national and international development and conservation agencies to enhance support for community led wildlife conservation. Countries reported that there is a role for Governments and IGOsto support this exchange of information and best practice.
Commitments in the theme of sustainable livelihoods and economic development were cited as the least implemented of the themes in the Progress Report to the Kasane Conference, and they are here also. However, the London and Kasane Conferences have shed light on the importance of community involvement in combatting Wildlife Trade, and while few countries reported on implementation actions in this theme, those that did reported on actions that went above and beyond the commitments in the London Declaration and Kasane Statement providing this Conference with valuable lessons in this area.
Hanoi Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade: Review of Progress
A.Eradicating the market for illegal wildlife products
- Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) can only be tackled if we eradicate both the demand and supply of illegal wildlife products wherever in the world this occurs. At the Kasane Conference on IWT in March 2015, Governments committed themselves to strengthen and establish partnerships through regional collaborations, and among source, transit, and destination countries, and with the private sector, and to collate a portfolio of demand reduction good practices.
- Since the Kasane Conference many positive actions have been taken by Governments to help reduce demand and eradicate the market for illegal wildlife products, working both with non-governmental actors and across borders with neighbouring countries. Research has provided greater insight into the consumers of illegal wildlife products and their reasons for use, and partnerships between countries and between governments and the private sector have strengthened the ability to reach broader and more targeted audiences, with tangible results.
Progress since the London Conference
A. Eradicating the Market for Illegal Wildlife Products
Since the London Conference many positive actions arecontinuing to be taken by Governments to help reduce demand and eradicate the market for illegal wildlife products, working both with non-governmental actors, and across borders with neighbouring countriesI.Support, and where appropriate undertake, effectively targeted actions to eradicate demand and supply for illegal wildlife products.
Botswana signed up to the Elephant Protection Initiative which calls for the closure of domestic ivory markets, and the development and endorsement of the African Rhino Action Plan. Botswana has already implemented CITES Res Conf 10.10 (Rev CoP17) regarding closure of ivory markets, as there is no domestic market for ivory in Botswana.
In Cameroon, the Governor of Centre Région signed a Decision forbidding andavoiding the trade of bush meat in the CentreRégion.
China has been actively enhancing coordination among sectors and agencies, improving the monitoring measures and multiple-round and multi-layer management, specifically, cracking down on websites thatviolate legal regulations and facilitate illegal wildlife trade; researching and establishing evaluation standards for illegal wildlife trade on internet; preventing illegal trade in ivory and wildlife on internet; enhancing the inspection for illegal transportation of ivory and wild fauna and flora species; strengtheningcommunication and education for tourists and the import quarantine, especially, enhancing risk prediction and prevention measures for key areas, key flights, and focus groups; establishing the monitoring mechanism for noticeable people and those who are included in black list; repeatedly blocking and seizing ivory and wildlife products; organizing training courses on building professional capacity to protect wild fauna and flora for officials from forest management agencies, administrative and trade agencies as well as market management departments; and law enforcement agencies launched a series of key object-based topic activities.