A two-day Eastern Africa wildlife directors workshop is scheduled to kick off in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi on Thursday with the aim of fostering co-operation and cultivating synergy among wildlife authorities in Eastern Africa to combat wildlife crime which has risen in the past few years, in particular elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade.
Among the expected outcomes of the meeting include the establishment of a wildlife directors’ forum that will continuously promote dialogue as well as jointly formulate and implement strategies in addressing wildlife crime in the region.
“It will bring together policy makers at ministries responsible for wildlife, chief executives and heads of wildlife law enforcement from wildlife authorities in six Eastern Africa elephant range states of Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda,” said a statement from the Kenya Wildlife Service issued on Wednesday.
Representatives from the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), the African Elephant Fund Steering Committee, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and INTERPOL will be in attendance.
Last year, CITES cited Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania as among countries in the world where cases of poaching are rising.