CAWT hosted a congress event showcasing the work of CAWT members and other anti-wildlife trafficking and anti-poaching organisations at the IUCN World Parks Congress in Sydney, Australia in November 2014.
Poaching from Parks – combating wildlife crime in protected areas
Monday, 17 November 2014
8:00 pm – 9:30 pm
World Parks Congress event – ‘Poaching from Parks’
Poaching from Parks CAWT event at the IUCN World Parks Congress © Department of the Environment Wildlife crime was under the spotlight in Sydney, Australia at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Parks Congress. As one of a number of sessions focused on illegal wildlife trafficking during the Congress, CAWT hosted an event on Monday 17 November on ‘Poaching from Parks - combating wildlife crime in protected areas’. Through a marketplace style stalls, 24 groups exhibited information on their work tackling many aspects of wildlife crime. The event highlighted the efforts of organisations, governments and communities worldwide in fighting poaching from protected areas and provided an important opportunity for making connections across issues and initiatives.
CAWT members exhibiting at the event included:
• the Australian Government
• the United States Government
• World Wildlife Fund (WWF-Tigers Alive Initiative and WWF Namibia in collaboration with Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC))
• TRAFFIC
• Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in collaboration with SMART Partnership
• Freeland in collaboration with ASEAN-WEN
• International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
• Cheetah Conservation Fund in collaboration with Rangewide Conservation Program for Cheetah and African Wild Dog (RWCP)
• International Otter Survival Fund (IOSF).
CAWT also welcomed a number other exhibitors to the event, including:
• The Australian National University Radiocarbon Laboratory
• Taronga Conservation Society Australia
• Let Elephants be Elephants (LEBE)
• Rhino Foundation of Indonesia (YABI)
• Australian Museum
• International Anti-Poaching Foundation
• International Rangers’ Federation (IRF) in collaboration with the Thin Green Line Foundation (TGLF)
• International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) in collaboration with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Secretariat
The Australia Minister for the Environment, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, welcomed exhibitors and several hundred guests to the event including The Hon Edna Molewa (Minister of Environmental Affairs, South Africa), Professor Lee White (Executive Secretary, Parks Gabon), Mr John Scanlon (Secretary-General, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), Ms Mary Rice (Head, Environmental Investigation Agency), Dr Rosie Cooney (Chair, IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group), Ms Nadya Hutagalung (Co-founder, Let Elephants be Elephants), Dr Marco Lambertini (WWF Director General), Mr Widodo Ramono (Executive Director, Rhino Foundation of Indonesia), and Mr Sean Willmore (President, International Rangers’ Federation). Mr Hunt was presented with a copy of the United States National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking by Ms Christine Dawson of the United States Department of State.
The ‘Poaching from Parks’ World Parks Congress event was part of CAWT’s global agenda to build and strengthen international collaboration to tackle wildlife crime, and CAWT wishes to thank all exhibitors and guests for making the event such a success.