FAO tools and resources on Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing is one of the greatest threats to marine ecosystems. IUU fishing takes advantage of corrupt administrations and exploits weak management regimes, in particular those of developing countries lacking the capacity and resources for effective monitoring, control, and surveillance (MCS). The FAO has produced three volumes in the series Checklists and Technical Guidelines to Combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing. Volume III is a Checklist of monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) systems, operations, procedures and tools. It provides a list of minimum requirements to ensure that the national MCS systems, operations, procedures, and tools aimed at combating IUU fishing are of the desired standard. Additional information on methodologies and indicators is available on the FAO website.

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Universal Ranger Support Alliance (URSA)

A coalition of conservation organisations supporting and promoting the International Ranger Federation to build a network of well-supported, professional, and capable rangers, who can act effectively as custodians of the natural world. It has produced numerous guidelines and standards of relevance to professionalizing the ranger work-force, including a Code of Conduct, ranger competences, and a document on how rangers support delivery of 30×30. There are 8 organizations URSA can be linked with (for filtering purposes).

WildLabs Conservation Technology Community

WILDLABS is home to the global conservation technology community of 8,600 people in 120 countries discussing 1,500 topics like biologging, camera traps, and machine learning. With engaging spaces to ask questions and collaborate together, share your own work, and discover new ideas and innovations, WILDLABS is your platform to connect with #Tech4Wildlife experts and projects from around the world.

New International Maritime Organisation Guidelines to Combat Wildlife Smuggling

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted new ‘Guidelines for the Prevention and Suppression of the Smuggling of Wildlife on Ships Engaged in International Maritime Traffic’ to combat wildlife smuggling. It’s an important step for the global shipping industry to focus on bringing down the illegal networks exploiting maritime supply chains to traffic wildlife.

People Not Poaching

The People Not Poaching online learning platform aims to support community-based approaches to tackling illegal wildlife trade (IWT).

With contributions from practitioners and communities, we aim to gather a global evidence base that will build awareness and knowledge-sharing about community approaches to reducing IWT.
This platform will:

  1. Document different approaches – successful and unsuccessful
  2. Bring together useful resources, and
  3. Provide updates on key events and policy developments.

Read more about what is being done to tackle IWT around the world.

UNODC wildlife crime

The trafficking of wildlife is increasingly recognized as both a specialized area of organized crime and a significant threat to many plant and animal species. The second edition of the World Wildlife Crime Report takes stock of the present wildlife crime situation with a focus on illicit trafficking of specific protected species of wild fauna and flora, and provides a broad assessment of the nature and extent of the problem at the global level. It includes a quantitative market assessment and a series of in-depth illicit trade case studies: rosewood, ivory and rhino horn, pangolin scales, live reptiles, big cats and eels. In addition, value chains and illicit financial flows from the trade in ivory and rhino horn is presented.

If the 2016 World Wildlife Crime Report represented UNODC’s first global assessment of the state of wildlife crime, the 2020 edition of this report represents a first assessment of trends. In several instances, these trends have been dramatic. The poaching of both elephants and rhinoceroses has consistently declined since 2011, as have the prices paid for tusks and horns. But the amount of pangolin scales seized has increased 10-fold in just five years, and new markets, such as the trafficking of European glass eels, have emerged in the wake of strengthened controls. For the first time, a consistent pattern of large shipments of unrelated wildlife products – elephant ivory and pangolin scales – has emerged. In addition, organized criminal groups in broker countries, neither the source nor the destination of the wildlife, have consolidated control of multiple markets. The 2020 World Wildlife Crime Report tracks all these trends and more.

The Research Brief “Illegal wildlife trade and climate change – Joining the dots” has been prepared as a contribution to the COP27 on Climate Change and considers the complex relationships between illegal wildlife trade, biodiversity and climate change. It highlights the implications of illegal wildlife trade for ecosystem function and resilience and the need for more evidence-based long term integrated policies

Elephant Ivory Initiative

WWF’s Network-wide Ivory Initiative came to an end in June 2022, after more than four years of successful work, focused on demand reduction and policy advocacy to shut down Asia’s elephant ivory markets. The initiative was built on the game-changing decision by China in 2017 to shutter its domestic market for elephant ivory. WWF-US was one of the key architects, part of a collective drive alongside NGOs, governments, businesses, and other partners.

The Elephant Ivory Initiative Report: 2018-2022 is an independent assessment that highlights the legacy, achievements, and lessons learned.

CITES Wildlife TradeView

CITES Wildlife TradeView is an interactive online tool for exploring and visualising CITES trade data. It enables users to visualise trends in international wildlife trade through three separate views:

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  • Taxon view: exploring the CITES trade data for one or more species or taxonomic groups

Within each view, users can identify the top exporters, importers, trade terms, taxa in trade and source of the specimens in trade (e.g. wild, captive-bred) using custom filters. Individual graphs and accompanying data can also be downloaded.

The tool is directly linked to the CITES Trade Database (managed by UNEP-WCMC on behalf of the CITES Secretariat) and is automatically updated once CITES annual reports are entered into the trade database. It therefore provides a way to access the most up to date CITES trade data available. CITES Parties are required to report on trade by 31st October of the year following which the trade occurred.

The development of CITES Wildlife TradeView was made possible thanks to internal investment, and the financial support from the UK Research and Innovation’s Global Challenges Research Fund under the Trade, Development and the Environment Hub project (project number ES/S008160/1).

Financial support to maintain the underlying dataset held within the CITES Trade Database is provided by the CITES Secretariat.

CITES ‘Non-detriment findings’

The preamble to the Convention recognizes that international cooperation is essential for the protection of certain species of wild fauna and flora against over-exploitation through international trade, and recognizes also the urgency of taking appropriate measures to this end. However, the point at which such over-exploitation starts has never been defined by the Parties.

Terms used in the text of the Convention such as “threatened with extinction” (Article II, paragraph 1) and “utilization incompatible with their survival” [Article II, paragraph 2. (a)] in relation to inclusion of species in the Appendices have been largely defined through the adoption of Resolution Conf. 9.24 (Rev. CoP16) on Criteria for amendment of Appendices I and II. However, related concepts linked with the issuance of permits, such as “…detrimental to the survival of that species” [Article III, paragraphs 2. (a), 3. (a) and 5. (a); and, Article IV, paragraphs 2. (a) and 6. (a)] and “maintain that species throughout its range at a level consistent with its role in the ecosystems in which it occurs” [Article IV, paragraph 3], have been little clarified by the Parties. These have become collectively known as the “non-detriment findings” (NDFs).

UNODC Forest and Wildlife Crime Toolkit

This ICCWC Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit, now in its fully revised second edition, provides a comprehensive overview of the main issues related to addressing wildlife and forest crime in a given location. It serves as a guide to explore and document this crime type in the wider context of crimes affecting the environment and examine the legal, administrative, and practical measures adopted to prevent and address it.

The ICCWC Toolkit is designed to assist government officials in wildlife and forestry administrations, policymakers, customs officials and officials of other relevant enforcement agencies, and may also be useful for independent experts and research entities. It will allow users to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the legal frameworks, enforcement measures, prosecutorial and judicial mechanisms, international cooperation, and other measures used to prevent and address wildlife and forest crime in a given national context. In addition, other stakeholders at the international and national levels, as well as civil society, may find the Toolkit useful to carry out their mandate and responsibilities.

While the focus is on the criminal justice response to wildlife and forest crime, the Toolkit also looks more broadly at the means and measures related to the protection and monitoring of wild fauna and flora and at the illegal exploitation of wildlife and forest resources by criminals, including organized criminal groups. The Toolkit further serves to identify technical assistance needs and may be used as training material for law enforcement.

Bern Convention Charters

The Council of Europe’s Bern Convention is an international legal instrument, binding for its Contracting Parties, in the field of nature conservation, which covers most of the natural heritage of the European continent.

The Convention places a particular importance on the need to protect endangered natural habitats and vulnerable species, including migratory species. Its Standing Committee (T-PVS) monitors the implementation of the Convention at each of its meetings by reviewing reports, processing case-files and adopting recommendations.
Hunters contribute to the fulfilment of the conservation aims of the Bern Convention through regulating game populations and caring for their habitats, assisting in monitoring and research, and raising public awareness for conservation issues. Thus, hunters and hunting play an important role in the conservation of biodiversity.
In November 2004, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted Recommendation 1689 regarding Hunting and Europe’s environmental balance, recommending inter alia that the Council of Europe “draw up a European charter on hunting, as a guide setting out common principles and good practices for hunting, particularly for the organisation of hunting tourism on the continent”. Three years later, the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention adopted such Charter, prepared by a Working Group of relevant experts and representatives from Contracting Parties and from NGOs – including FACE, the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC) and the World Conservation Union/Special Survival Commission – European Sustainable Use Specialist Group (IUCN/SSC-ESUSG).
The European Charter on Hunting and Biodiversity promotes principles and guidelines intended to ensure that hunting and hunting tourism in Europe are practiced in a sustainable manner, making a positive contribution to the conservation of species and habitats and the needs of society.

Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework: An Indicator to Monitor the Threats to Inland Fisheries, as a Component of Target 5

Achieving effective conservation and sustainable development of inland aquatic ecosystems is dependent on inland fisheries*, but they are frequently absent from associated policy because of the lack of a globally applicable method for monitoring their status (see section 4). To address this problem, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) have developed an indicator for assessing threats to inland fisheries. Providing a means to assess the
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The 2022 edition of The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture coincides with the launch of the Decade of Action to deliver the Global Goals, the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. It presents how these and other equally important United Nations events, such as the International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture (IYAFA 2022), are being integrated and supported through Blue Transformation, a priority area of FAO’s new Strategic Framework 2022–2031 designed to accelerate achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in food and agriculture. The concept of Blue Transformation emerged from the Thirty-fourth Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries in February 2021, and in particular the Declaration for Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture, which was negotiated and endorsed by all FAO Members. The Declaration calls for support for “an evolving and positive vision for fisheries and aquaculture in the twenty first century, where the sector is fully recognized for its contribution to fighting poverty, hunger and malnutrition.” In this context, Part 1 of this edition of The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture reviews the world status of fisheries and aquaculture, while Parts 2 and 3 are devoted to Blue Transformation and its pillars on intensifying and expanding aquaculture, improving fisheries management and innovating fisheries and aquaculture value chains. Blue Transformation emphasizes the need for forward-looking and bold actions to be launched or accelerated in coming years to achieve the objectives of the Declaration and in support of the 2030 Agenda. Part 4 covers current and high-impact emerging issues – COVID-19, climate change and gender equality – that require thorough consideration for transformative steps and preparedness to secure sustainable, efficient and equitable fisheries and aquaculture, and finally draws some outlook on future trends based on projections. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture aims to provide objective, reliable and up-to-date information to a wide audience – policymakers, managers, scientists, stakeholders and indeed everyone interested in the fisheries and aquaculture sector.