The International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime is hosting a seminar on fighting the poaching and trafficking of tigers around the world on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.
The event is organized by INTERPOL, in cooperation with the UN Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC) and World Customs Organization.
In early January, Thai Customs Officials seized four boxes containing illegal tiger parts worthUSD6,000 that were bound for China. The problem of tiger poaching is fueled by old beliefs that consuming the big cats can stimulate sexual virility.
From the official press release for the event:
The International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) will host the “Heads of Police and Customs Seminar on Tiger Crime” 13-14 February 2012, in Bangkok, Thailand. The Seminar will bring together the top Police and Customs Officers from countries that still have tigers living in the wild. The Seminar objective is for participants to agree on a robust set of law enforcement-based solutions to protect tigers and other rare and highly threatened species.
Environmental crime is a serious international problem with a detrimental impact on the global economy and security. Criminals violate national and international laws through increasingly sophisticated techniques and highly organised networks. Their activities directly affect human health, and threaten the environment and global biodiversity.
Compelled by the need to urgently respond to the burgeoning threat of environmental crime, five inter-governmental organisations have recently formed the International Consortium to Combat Wildlife Crime or ICCWC (read I-Quick). These organisations are: the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), INTERPOL, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Bank and the World Customs Organisation (WCO). The consortium seeks to scale up wildlife law enforcement effectiveness, through intelligence-led interdiction and advanced investigative methods.
The “Heads of Police and Customs Seminar on Tiger Crime” is one of the Consortium’s first activities. It will bring together 26 delegates from 13 tiger range countries as well as senior representatives from ICCWC members and key partner organisations operating in the field of tiger conservation and wildlife crime. The Tiger Seminar is organised by INTERPOL, in cooperation with UNODC and the WCO, and with the technical and financial support from the CITES Secretariat and the World Bank.
The Seminar is a follow-up to the November 2010 St. Petersburg Summit on Tiger Conservation, during which Heads of Governments of 13 tiger range countries committed to increase their cooperation to eradicate poaching, smuggling, and the illegal trade in tigers and tiger parts. Addressing illegal trade is an essential part of the Global Tiger Recovery Program, a comprehensive 12-year strategy endorsed by all 13 countries to double the population of wild tigers by 2022, the next Year of the Tiger.
The Bangkok Tiger Seminar aims to enhance national and international cooperation between Police and Customs agencies, and develop a coordinated response to combat tiger crime. The Seminar will raise awareness among Police and Customs authorities of the impact that have on wild tigers. Attendees will share expertise and develop enforcement strategies to tackle tiger crime. The Seminar will also recognise INTERPOL’s Project Predator, which aims to develop the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies and form National Environmental Security Task Forces.
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Bangkok Tiger Tracker is Coconuts Bangkok’s regular round up of tiger-related news from Thailand and around the continent. Asia’s biggest cat is one of the most ecologically and culturally important animals in the world, but is facing extinction due to poaching and loss of habitat. It is estimated that there are only about 3,200 tigers remaining in the wild today in Asia, down from nearly 100,000 a century ago.
