welcome, jeremy eppel, deputy director, international biodiversity, department for environment, food...
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome, Jeremy Eppel, Deputy Director, International Biodiversity, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), UK A view from the frontline, Uganda: Aggrey Rwetsiba, Senior Monitoring and Research Co-ordinator, Government of Uganda. Supporting Developing Countries to Tackle IWT: Pia Bucella, Director of Natural Capital, European Union. An Innovative Biodiversity Financing Mechanism - United for Wildlife’s Rhino Bond project: Katherine Secoy, The Zoological Society of London. IWT and Sustainable Development: Caroline Petersen, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Open Discussion with Panel Members
Programme
Aims of the London Conference
Focus high level political attention, and better coordinate action across the globe, to tackle three interlinked aspects of the Illegal Wildlife Trade:
• Strengthening law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
• Reducing demand for illegal wildlife products.
• Supporting the development of sustainable livelihoods for communities affected by IWT.
What the Conference Achieved
1) Focused attention on the issue:
Over 40 countries and 10 international organisations attended the London conference, including:
• Presidents of Botswana, Tanzania, Gabon and Chad
• Foreign Ministers of Ethiopia, Namibia and Canada
• Environment and other Ministers from countries across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas including: Kenya, China, Vietnam, Germany, Mozambique, Malaysia, Rwanda, Indonesia, Cameroon, Zambia, and Japan
What the Conference Achieved
2) An ambitious political declaration: The commitments secured were at the top end of our ambitions:
• Governments committed for the first time to renounce the use of any products from species threatened with extinction
• Governments will support the CITES commercial prohibition on international trade in elephant ivory until the survival of elephants in the wild is no longer threatened by poaching
• Governments committed to treating poaching and trafficking as a serious organised crime in the same category as drugs, arms and people trafficking.
Next steps - What is the UK doing?
• HMG is investing around £4m through for a competitive IWT “Challenge Fund”, open to applications from projects tackling IWT around the world and will support a wide range of species.
• The UK published a ‘Commitment to Action on Illegal Wildlife Trade’ on 5 February 2014, including confirmed funding for the UK’s National Wildlife Crime Unit, and working with INTERPOL and the World Customs Organisation to locate traffickers.
• The UK allocates £8m a year under the Darwin Initiative to projects to help wildlife and communities around the globe, including projects specifically targeted at IWT.
• Supporting Botswana, the host of the follow-up conference in 2015.
Group photo of the London Conference on The Illegal Wildlife Trade, 13 February 2014.
Mobilising Political Resources to Tackle the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT)
Wildlife Crime;Uganda’s National Experience
Presentation
By
Aggrey Rwetsiba
Uganda Wildlife AuthorityMinistry of Tourism, Wildlife & Antiquities
UGANDA
Email: [email protected]
8th October 2014
COP 12, PYEONGCHANG KOREA
The Republic of UgandaThe Republic of Uganda
Wildlife Crime: Shifting from Natural Solutions to Real Solutions
Introduction• Uganda has maintained reasonable control over wildlife poaching• poaching levels of elephants averaged about 10 individuals/year
since 2000 out of a total number of around 5,000 elephants• international wildlife trade is becoming increasingly dominated
by large criminal gangs who are using sophisticated techniques to get ivory and other products out of countries like Uganda
• Illicit Wildlife Trade has affected revenue earned from tourism as well as other wildlife uses especially for some of the poorest and most vulnerable communities that depend on wildlife for their livelihoods.
1.Since the CITES CoP16 meeting, Uganda has endorsed;
• The Marrakech Declaration to combat poaching of endangered fauna and flora species May 2013,
• The Gaborone African Elephant Summit Urgent measures to combat elephant poaching and illegal ivory trade Dec. 2013
• The London Conference Declaration on Illegal Wildlife Trade Feb. 2014.
• Developed an Action Plan for combating illegal wildlife trade in Uganda that highlights 6 priority areas-
National level commitment to combat illicit wildlife trade
Uganda Action Plan for combating Illegal Wildlife Trade highlights six priority areas; •Review of the existing wildlife legislation to address gaps and loopholes in the fight against illegal wildlife trade.
•Strengthening the intelligence and law enforcement capabilities of the Uganda Wildlife Authority.
•Strengthening coordination and collaboration with other security agencies and other stakeholders at national and regional levels.
•Awareness raising for the general public about the illegal wildlife trade.
•Management of the confiscated ivory and the national stock pile
•Training and capacity development
Implementation progress of the key actions identified in the Action Plan
1.Review of the Legislation; to ensure that suspects apprehended for wildlife crimes are treated as serious criminals and penalised to the full extent of the law
•The National Wildlife Policy was reviewed and approved by the Cabinet in March 2014.
• The Revised Wildlife Policy recognizes the significance of the wildlife resources to the economy and therefore emphasizes the need for wildlife conservation and development that maximizes the benefits to the communities while maintaining ecological integrity and balance.
• The Policy has a number of strategies to combat illegal wildlife trade and other wildlife crimes
•Review of Wildlife Act
•The draft Wildlife Act Amendment Bill has also been presented to cabinet for review after which it will be forwarded to Parliament for enactment into law.
•The revised Wildlife Act will address current challenges by providing stringent penalties for wildlife trafficking and other wildlife offences and will also address implementation of CITES in Uganda
•Orders and Regulations to domesticate CITES and the Lusaka Agreement
•Uganda has also prepared draft Orders and Regulations to domesticate CITES and the Lusaka Agreement. •This will assist in the implementation stricter measures against illegal ivory trade and other forms of wildlife trafficking.
•These Orders have had both technical and stakeholder review and Cabinet papers have been prepared. Cabinet is yet to review the Orders and have them approved for implementation
3. Information management framework (ongoing and entails)
•Establishment of the wild life crime/offenders database where records are kept on seizures of wildlife and wildlife body parts
Recruitment of a Wildlife-Crime Information Officer (WIO) in-charge of “Wildlife counter- trafficking center” to collect, compile and analyze information to provide timely liaison intelligence support to other agencies, home and abroadRecruitment Wildlife WEBINF Expert (WWE) to conduct intelligence gathering over the web through sophisticated open source research and unique virtual HUMINF capabilities (no hacking or active collection)Creation of a reporting format and standard operating procedures for the transfer of seized forensic communication information andfield reports on continuous investigations.
2. Strengthening Intelligence and law enforcement
• Wildlife Crime Unit at Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to curb the illegal wildlife trade in the country was established in 2013. The process involved recruitment, training and deployment of 80 staff in the new Unit.
• A possibility of acquiring and deploying sniffer dogs at key transit routes is being explored
4. Coordination and collaboration with other stakeholders
•Uganda has had increased ivory seizures in 2013 more than previously because of stronger coordination and collaboration with other agencies mainly Customs, Police, INTERPOL, the Lusaka Agreement Task Force and Kenya Wildlife Service.
•In April 2013, an Inter Agency Task Force comprised of Uganda Police, Uganda Revenue Authority (Customs), INTERPOL, Uganda Wildlife Authority, Civil Aviation Authority, Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence was formed to be chaired by INTERPOL Uganda Bureau to address wildlife trafficking.
•Uganda Wildlife Authority is now represented at the National Security Committee and this has provided an opportunity for wildlife trafficking to be discussed at high government level and effective strategies put in place.
5. Awareness creation
Since 2013, we have held 5 inter agency awareness trainings and workshops involving the judiciary (Magistrates, Prosecutors), Police, Customs, other security and law enforcement officers on the importance of wildlife and the need to fight illegal killing and trafficking of wildlife
7. Training and Capacity development
•The objective is to developing capacity of UWA to address major gaps in crime scene management, sample collection (for DNA analysis), seizure stock
inventory and specialized investigation techniques for the illegal wildlife trade and forensic analysis.
•Uganda is collaborating with Wildlife Conservation Society to engage a consultant to help us in the training of the staff handling and managing wildlife crime
8.Management of confiscated ivory and national stock pile
•Uganda undertook a stock taking exercise of ivory stock pile in the country as a baseline stock pile in the country.
•Previously, seized ivory was mixed with other impounded and confiscated items including guns and other wildlife trophies. A separate strong room has been put in place for ivory storage that is well secured through a combination of password protected access involving three different officers each with own password.
Key Challenges
1.Poverty (motivated local people to engage in wildlife crimes) due to lack of alternative source of income.
2.Armed poachers are using sophisticated military equipment and tactics to for example kill elephants and are also taking advantage of high-level corruption, or lack of border security, to move ivory across borders and to avoid detection and prosecution
3.Lack of life insurance for law enforcement staff as poachers have increasingly also targeted the park rangers dedicated to protecting threatened species and can loose their life in action
4.Limited capacity – staff, training, equipment (e.g. for surveillance, anti-poaching, research & monitoring, communication, etc.) and other infrastructure
5.Limited funding; lack of funds has slowed down implementation of activities identified in the wildlife crime prevention action plan
RHINO IMPACT BONDCHANGING THE CONSERVATIONLANDSCAPE
Social Finance is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority FCA No: 497568
With thanks to:
Katherine Secoy, Zoological Society of London [email protected]
the CONSERVATION movement needs to change
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• Scaling up conservation funding requires greater focus on measuring impact.
• Harness power of private finance to drive change in approach to conservation.
Number of rhinos poached in Africa
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• Escalating poaching threatens to push rhino populations over a tipping point.
• Rapid, global response urgently needed.
• Growing impact investing market could be large source of upfront capital to boost site-based rhino conservation.
• Project will create roadmap to reducing poaching, applied first to rhinos, then all high value species.
Source: Emslie, R. & Knight, M. 2014. Update on African Rhino Status and Poaching Trends from IUCN SSC African Rhino Specialist Group (AfRSG). Data from IUCN SSC AfRSG, TRAFFIC and CITES Rhino Working Group.
escalating poaching is leading to a tipping point
unique structure of IMPACT bonds lends itself to tackling the poaching
problem
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• Rhino protected areas need:• upfront and sustained
funding;• flexibility to change activities
as poaching threat changes.• Impact bonds provide:
• long-term (c. 10 yr) funds;• incentives to achieve impact
through linking funding to results;
• ‘service providers’ (e.g. PA managers) flexibility in implementation.
Investors provide up-front capital to, andportfolio manage,
service providers in real-time
Donor pays for impact achieved, rather than controlling inputs and
processes
Impact achieved improves as programme
is adaptive, client-centredand evidence-based
The generic structure of an impact bond
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Site data provided by IUCN SSC Rhino Specialist Groups
Our Aim is to launch a $40-50m impact bond to conserve rhinos
globally
Return on investment will depend on success of the portfolio of rhino sites
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INVESTORS
Upfront capital of $40-50m
RHINO POPULATION in up to10 sites across Africa
and Asia
OUTCOMES FUNDERS
SITE MANAGERS
Return on investment depends
on success
RHINO IMPACT PARTNERSHIP
Payments with IRR of
up to 5-10% based on
impactIndependent verification of agreed metrics1 e.g.,•Increased growth rate of rhino population per annum2
•Decreased poaching of rhinos per annumStudy establishing economic development impact of bondSite-based actions over 8-10
years
1
3
4
5
6PARTNER GOVERNMENTS’
engagement critical, including as Outcomes Funders and/or Service
Providers
Portfolio management2
1. Metrics will be tailored to each site and are likely to be calculated as an average across impact bond and compared to expected average based on seasonally adjusted past performance and trends 2. Rhino population is number of rhinos adjusted for net translocations.
project will assess the gaps across rhino sites to provide investors with a clear ‘theory of change’
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Theory of change based on holistic PA management
framework …
Pillar Element assessedGeneric
A: IMPORTANCE AND STATUS
1. Social, cultural and biological significance 2. Protected area design3. Legal status, regulation and compliance
B: MANAGEMENT
4. Management planning 5. Management plan/system implementation 6. Management processes 7. Staffing (full time and part time)8. Infrastructure, equipment and facilities 9. Sustainability of financial resources 10. Adaptive management
C: COMMUNITY
11. Human-wildlife conflict 12. Community relations13. Stakeholder relationships
D: TOURISM(optional)
14. Tourism and interpretation
E: PROTECTION 15. ProtectionRhino specific
F: HABITAT MANAGEMENT
16. Habitat management
G: RHINO POPULATIONS
17. Rhino population monitoring & management
… for gap analysis by PA managers…
… to produce intervention
model and budget
GEF Project will Prove the concept and build investor confidence over
2 years, to launch bond in 2017
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• Activities to design the bond and build investor confidence:• Gap analyses at up to 10 priority rhino sites• Test interventions and performance metrics
• Aiming to work in:• Asia and Africa (East and Southern)• Focus on Key1-rated rhino populations• Learn lessons for investors in South Africa (where poaching highest)
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THANK YOU
For more information: Katherine Secoy, Zoological Society of London
"Impact Bonds stand to improve the efficiency of
development assistance in the coming years“ Elizabeth Littlefield, president of overseas private investment
corporation