In an effort to ensure continued traction in the fight against Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) across Asian and sub-Saharan African countries, nine expert national support missions were conducted under the auspices of the INAMA Project in July and August 2019. Administrations supported included Angola, Botswana, Cambodia, Cameroon, Lao PDR, Nigeria, Tanzania, Thailand and Togo.
The missions were organized as a follow up to other activities implemented previously, i.e. the Regional Workshops, the Train-The-Trainer and Accreditation Workshops, and Operations PRAESIDIO and THUNDERBALL.
The focus was placed on several aspects linked to IWT, such as training frameworks, legal instruments, risk management, as well as operational planning and implementation. The experts engaged with the heads of divisions and officers responsible for these areas, and resulted in findings and recommendations on IWT matters. In addition, the findings and recommendations support future priorities and plans.
Some missions also doubled as part of the accreditation process where pre-accredited experts were exposed to diagnostic missions. Reports on each pre-accredited expert was prepared and will feed into his/her final evaluation for full accreditation, which will be finalised at an Accreditation Workshop which will take place on 26-30 August 2019.
The missions were funded by the US Department of State and the Customs Cooperation Fund Eurocustoms.