Virtual Dialogue on Wildlife Trafficking

2 March 2022
On the occasion of World Wildlife Day, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) invite you to join a virtual dialogue on 3rd March 2022 that will present lessons learned and discuss challenges and opportunities for a renewed EU Action Plan to tackle wildlife trafficking, including how the EU can support the fight against wildlife trafficking in the field in partner countries.
 
Wildlife trafficking has become one of the most lucrative criminal activities and constitutes one of the most immediate threats to biodiversity in many parts of the world. Around the globe, wildlife is being bought and sold on an increasingly massive scale as pets, food, medicine, furs, feathers, skins, decorations, and trinkets. The European Union has an important role to play in addressing wildlife trafficking, as it constitutes a significant destination market, a hub for trafficking in transit to other parts of the world, as well as the source region for illegal trade in some species. 
 
In February 2016, the European Commission adopted an EU Action Plan to tackle wildlife trafficking within the EU and to strengthen the EU's role in the global fight against these illegal activities, which is currently under review. It is timely to discuss what has been achieved to date and what the EU can still do further, particularly as a contribution to a new EU Action Plan.
Wildlife trafficking has become one of the most lucrative criminal activities and constitutes one of the most immediate threats to biodiversity in many parts of the world. Around the globe, wildlife is being bought and sold on an increasingly massive scale as pets, food, medicine, furs, feathers, skins, decorations, and trinkets. The European Union has an important role to play in addressing wildlife trafficking, as it constitutes a significant destination market, a hub for trafficking in transit to other parts of the world, as well as the source region for illegal trade in some species. 
 
In February 2016, the European Commission adopted an EU Action Plan to tackle wildlife trafficking within the EU and to strengthen the EU's role in the global fight against these illegal activities, which is currently under review. It is timely to discuss what has been achieved to date and what the EU can still do further, particularly as a contribution to a new EU Action Plan.
 
Provisional programme
 
Keynote Address
Mr. Virginijus Sinkevičius – EU Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries
Ms. Hilde Vautmans – Member of the European Parliament and Chairwoman of MEPs for Wildlife
Mr. Jean-Philippe Lecouffe – Deputy Executive Director, EUROPOL
 
PANEL 1 - Why an EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking?
Moderator: Mr. Jorge Rios – Chief of UNODC Global Wildlife and Forest Crime Programme. 
Mr. Jorge Rodriguez Romero – Deputy Head of Unit, Multilateral Environmental Cooperation at DG ENV
Ms. Olga Kuzmianok – ICCWC Partnership, UNODC Global Wildlife and Forest Crime Programme
Ms. Diana Pérez-Aranda Serrano – Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge of Spain
Mr. Arnaud Goessens – Senior Manager, EU Policy, WCS EU
 
PANEL 2 - Strategic Areas to Address Wildlife Trafficking Globally
Moderator: Prof. Dr. Tanya Wyatt – Professor of Criminology, Northumbria University
Mr. Giovanni Broussard – Regional Coordinator, UNODC Global Wildlife and Forest  Crime Programme in Southeast Asia
Ms. Leah W. Naess – Senior Policy Officer, Directorate of Sustainable Environment and Blue Economy, African Union Commission
Ms. Yovana Murillo – Program Manager for Counter Wildlife Trafficking in Andes - Amazon - Orinoco, WCS
Prof. Dr. Tien Ming Lee – Oxford Martin Visiting Fellow, and Schools of Life Sciences and Ecology, Sun Yat-sen University
Ms. Maria Socorro Manguiat – Senior Legal Officer, Law Division, UN Environment Programme