Asian and African Lawmakers Support Innovations in Wildlife Legislation

Asian and African Lawmakers Support Innovations in Wildlife Legislation
Panelists on the parliamentary perspectives session. Left to Right: Dr. Craig Kirkpatrick, USAID Regional Development Mission Asia, Hon. Mr. Raymond Democrito C. Mendoza, Representative, Party List - TUCP; House of Representatives Philippine, Hon. Lt. Gen. Chaiyuth Proomsookt, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources of the National Legislative Assembly of Thailand, Hon. Mr. Jitu Vlajral Soni, Member of Parliament; Chairman, Tanzania Parliamentarians Friends of the Environment and Ms. Sallie Yang, USAID Wildlife Asia. Photo copyright: USAID Wildlife Asia/Bussara Tirakalyanapan
Ranking Legislators from the Philippines, Lao PDR, Thailand and Tanzania joined a 2-day UN Africa-Asia Symposium on Legal Frameworks for Combating Wildlife Crime, and led a parliamentary perspectives session to highlight model, innovative provisions to counter wildlife trafficking such as provisions on sustainable funding streams for law enforcement activities, designation of specialized prosecutors, restitutions, transparency and anti-corruption, community participation, incentives for informants and regional political networking for harmonized legislations.

 Two regional bodies have initiated wildlife caucus/ working groups, the East African Legislative Assembly and the AIPA Caucus Working Group on CITES and Wildlife Protection. USAID Wildlife Asia and PROTECT Tanzania collaborated to facilitate the exchange and are working with champion MPs to enhance wildlife legislations and enhancing legislative-executive cooperation for CWT efforts. Read press release by CITES, UNEP, UNODC, and UNDP.