UN calls for cooperation to combat wildlife crimes

The UN has called for international cooperation to combat wildlife crimes and other forms of transnational crimes.

Miwa Panholzer Kato, director of division for operations at United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) told a forum in Nairobi that wildlife crime is a low-risk, high-profit transnational organised crime, which is overwhelming countries and communities, affecting biodiversity and development.

"The truth of the matter is that there is no alternative to international cooperation to tackle organised crime and combat wildlife crimes - there is no single country that will alone, be able to curb the plight that wildlife crimes represent," Kato said on Wednesday during the closing ceremony of the Wildlife Inter-Regional Enforcement (WIRE), Xinhua reported.

The three-day event was held under the umbrella of the International Consortium for Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC).

ICCWC is a consortium composed of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Interpol, World Customs Organization, World Bank and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) that is undertaking the task of fighting the multifaceted nature of wildlife crime.

Kato said that eliminating the trafficking of endangered species requires the greatest degree of cooperation to deliver on the 2030 sustainable development agenda especially on goals 14 and 15 which are ambitious and require proportionally ambitious responses.

She noted that illicit wildlife trade not only endangers animals but also slows down progress and development in many areas of the 2030 development agenda.

The UN official said that customs officers, financial intelligence units, police, wildlife investigators and prosecutors across the global should establish sustainable linkages among themselves.

--IANS

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