21 December 2012: The European Commission (EC) has announced that it will contribute €1.73 million to INTERPOL in support of its Project Combat Wildlife Crime, which operates under the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) and includes the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Bank and the World Customs Organisation. In addition, the EC will be providing €2 million to the MIKE programme, which monitors elephant poaching across Africa.

INTERPOL’s Project Combat Wildlife Crime aims to ensure long-term capacity building, improved international information and intelligence exchange and the coordination of enforcement efforts through the support of government authorities in the wildlife and forestry administration from source, transit and consumer countries. At a broader level, the project also supports better governance and the fight against corruption. Key activities include: the analysis of capacity needs supported by the provision of technical and financial assistance to countries where gaps are identified; the development and hosting of capacity-building programmes, including training materials, courses and workshops; and the deployment of Incident Response Teams to undertake targeted enforcement actions in conjunction with developing countries.

Founded in 2010, the ICCWC is a collaborative effort providing coordinated support to national wildlife law enforcement agencies and sub-regional and regional networks to support the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and to promote better governance for the management of natural resources in developing countries. [EC Press Release]