Wildlife Crime
Globally, poaching and the related illegal wildlife trade have grown into a highly organized criminal network and lucrative business employing a variety of people: hunters, middlemen and the main dealers, as well as influential people —'white-collared' poachers at the top of the chain with the financial means to fuel the trafficking by providing the necessary arms and ammunitions and making transportation available to supply ready markets nationally and internationally.
Laws have been put in place to combat the illegal trade in wildlife and their derivative products but their effective application is limited because of lack of enforcement mechanisms, lack of mastery of the procedures, paucity of information about the poachers and the main dealers, and corruption, amongst others.
Moreover, depending on the context in different countries, anti-poaching activities could, at times, not be carried out in conformity with laws and procedures governing the wildlife sector, thus resulting in the poor enforcement of wildlife law characterized by seizures without arrest of defaulters, arrests without prosecution, cases not followed in court, court decisions not executed, etc.
WWF Cameroon supports the main law enforcement actors at all levels in Cameroon to help tackle wildlife crime and protect the country’s wildlife and communities from its pernicious impacts.
The six pillars of the Zero Poaching framework we are seeking to implement aim to improve the effectiveness of anti-poaching actions and ensure that laws are effectively enforced. In parallel, we support the gathering and analysis of bio-monitoring and socio-economic data on target species in order to adapt anti-poaching strategies and measure their impacts.
Concretely, WWF Cameroon is supporting wildlife law enforcement in and around protected areas (PAs), as well as helping to introduce innovations, particularly in the areas of community-based wildlife crime prevention framework, operationalization of the multi-stakeholder Regional and Divisional wildlife law enforcement platforms around protected areas, dealing with emerging threats from big investment projects (mining, oil palm expansion, etc.) and support for effective implementation of judiciary procedures, working, as need arises, with the International Consortium to Combat Wildlife Crime (ICCWC).
A key element of our strategy is to work progressively with major private sector companies present in the region to stop bush meat hunting and transport within and around logging concessions, but also to help ensure that active bush meat trade law enforcement is implemented and monitored on key transportation links to key consumption areas, at the level of priority landscape or nation-wide.
In addition, we are working with communities to set up effective subsistence hunting zones, and also support government and non-government partners to shift demand away from bush meat in urban centres using innovative marketing and public relation tools.
Finally, WWF is advocating strongly for the review or establishment and enforcement of national laws and international treaties related to wildlife trade in collaboration with technical partners, such as TRAFFIC.
Laws have been put in place to combat the illegal trade in wildlife and their derivative products but their effective application is limited because of lack of enforcement mechanisms, lack of mastery of the procedures, paucity of information about the poachers and the main dealers, and corruption, amongst others.
Moreover, depending on the context in different countries, anti-poaching activities could, at times, not be carried out in conformity with laws and procedures governing the wildlife sector, thus resulting in the poor enforcement of wildlife law characterized by seizures without arrest of defaulters, arrests without prosecution, cases not followed in court, court decisions not executed, etc.
WWF Cameroon supports the main law enforcement actors at all levels in Cameroon to help tackle wildlife crime and protect the country’s wildlife and communities from its pernicious impacts.
The six pillars of the Zero Poaching framework we are seeking to implement aim to improve the effectiveness of anti-poaching actions and ensure that laws are effectively enforced. In parallel, we support the gathering and analysis of bio-monitoring and socio-economic data on target species in order to adapt anti-poaching strategies and measure their impacts.
Concretely, WWF Cameroon is supporting wildlife law enforcement in and around protected areas (PAs), as well as helping to introduce innovations, particularly in the areas of community-based wildlife crime prevention framework, operationalization of the multi-stakeholder Regional and Divisional wildlife law enforcement platforms around protected areas, dealing with emerging threats from big investment projects (mining, oil palm expansion, etc.) and support for effective implementation of judiciary procedures, working, as need arises, with the International Consortium to Combat Wildlife Crime (ICCWC).
A key element of our strategy is to work progressively with major private sector companies present in the region to stop bush meat hunting and transport within and around logging concessions, but also to help ensure that active bush meat trade law enforcement is implemented and monitored on key transportation links to key consumption areas, at the level of priority landscape or nation-wide.
In addition, we are working with communities to set up effective subsistence hunting zones, and also support government and non-government partners to shift demand away from bush meat in urban centres using innovative marketing and public relation tools.
Finally, WWF is advocating strongly for the review or establishment and enforcement of national laws and international treaties related to wildlife trade in collaboration with technical partners, such as TRAFFIC.
Ecoguards in a the Bakossi National Park
Ecoguards set to embark on a filed trip In the Bakossi National Park
Ecoguards remove wire snares from the park - Bakossi National Park
Seized ivory tusks at Djoum, South Region of Cameroon
