Geneva, 26 August 2019 – The most recent global wildlife enforcement operation, codenamed Operation Thunderball, involved 109 countries. It resulted in over 1,800 seizures across all continents and the arrest of close to 600 suspects. Such successful wildlife law-enforcement operations demonstrate what can be achieved when CITES Parties work together to crack down on wildlife crime.

The Third Global Meeting of Wildlife Enforcement Networks (WENs) was held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 21 to 22 August. It brought together over 105 representatives from WENs, law enforcement bodies, international organizations and other relevant stakeholders from around the world. They shared experiences on further strengthening collaborative efforts to combat wildlife crime at the regional, sub-regional and global levels.

The meeting was convened by the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and its partners in the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC). Held alongside the 18th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP18), the meeting was organized thanks to generous funds provided to ICCWC by the Department of State of the United States of America as part of its broader efforts to combat wildlife trafficking globally.

Source: CITES

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