U.S. implements national plan to combat wildlife trafficking

The Justice, State and Interior departments announced the implementation of the U.S. National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking.    The Justice, State and Interior departments on Wednesday announced the implementation of the U.S. National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking.
   The agencies are co-chairs of the president’s Task Force on Combating Wildlife Trafficking which comprises 17 federal agencies and offices.
   “Illegal wildlife trafficking has become one of the most profitable types of transnational organized crime, and its impact has been devastating,” said Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division John C. Cruden in a statement. “This illicit trade is decimating many species worldwide, and some like rhinoceroses, elephants and tigers face extinction in our lifetimes if we do not reverse this trend.”
   The strategy calls for increasing enforcement, reducing demand for illegally traded wildlife, and expanding international cooperation. It also identifies lead and participating agencies for each objective, and defines how progress will be measured.
   Some of the steps included in the implementation plan are:

• Continuing efforts to implement and enforce administrative actions to strengthen controls over trade in elephant ivory in the United States.
• Leveraging partnerships to reduce demand both domestically and abroad.
• Strengthening enforcement capacity, cooperation, and partnerships with counterparts in other countries.

   The United States is also using trade agreements and trade policy to press for groundbreaking commitments on wildlife trafficking and wildlife conservation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) with 11 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region and the Transatlantic Partnership Agreement (T-TIP) with the European Union. These commitments would be fully enforceable, including through recourse to trade sanctions, with far-reaching benefits for species like rhinos, sharks and pangolins.