TRAFFIC facilitates training for anti-smuggling personnel in three key Chinese provinces
Guangzhou, China, June 2017–more than 110 anti-smuggling and law enforcement officials from Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan provinces engaged in a two day CITES[1] enforcement training workshop to help them prevent and detect wildlife trafficking.
The workshop, whose attendees included representatives from the Forest Police, local Customs, Border Police and other government departments, was held in Guangzhou. Guangdong province, in particular Guangzhou city, is a major destination for illegal wildlife products inbound to mainland China from countries in Southeast Asia and Africa.
CITES regulations, wildlife conservation laws and timber species identification were some the topics covered. The Deputy Directors of the Anti-Smuggling Offices of Guangdong and Hainan province were among the speakers who shared their experiences and innovations in combatting illegal wildlife trafficking.
Xiao Yu, Programme Manager of TRAFFIC’s China Office, presented recent findings by TRAFFIC concerning the shift towards online platforms as a means of smuggling and trading illegal wildlife products.
“Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan share land and sea borders with a number of Southeast Asian countries”, said Zhou Fei, Head of TRAFFIC’s China Office. “According to ETIS[2] and TRAFFIC’s research, many Southeast Asian countries are both transit hubs and sources of many endangered species and illegal wildlife products entering China’s black market. Combatting wildlife smuggling in China will be strengthened through the co-operation of these three key provinces.”
The workshop provided opportunities for enforcement officials from the three provinces to build closer connections, building a foundation for future collaborative enforcement. Given that Guangdong has been identified as a primary destination for many smuggled wildlife products, enforcement agencies can now jointly target various stages of this significant delivery chain.
TRAFFIC’s educational posters helping enforcement staff correctly identify commonly trafficked wildlife products were praised by attendees. One enforcement official said: “This is a very useful tool for our frontier staff—we appreciate TRAFFIC’s market research work and these educational materials.”
Notes:
TRAFFIC’s enforcement facilitation work in Guangxi and Guangdong province is supported by CEPF. The workshop was co-organized by the CITES Management Authority of Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan, TRAFFIC and other NGOs.
[1] CITES is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
[2] ETIS is the Elephant Trade Information System
