African kino tree (Pterocarpus erinaceus). Photo by Philippe Birnbaum.
Happy World Wildlife Day! This year’s World Wildlife Day theme is “Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet” to highlight the central role of forests, forest species, and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally.
In West Africa, wildlife crime, including illegal logging and timber trade, is causing irreversible damage to ecosystems. Animal and plant species are being decimated at an unprecedented rate in large part due to these illegal activities.
Flora parts for sale in Burkina Faso. Photo by Born Free USA.
Born Free USA works to stop illegal trafficking – including that of plant species. From 2016 to 2020, we held 25 training courses for more than 500 law enforcement officials from across West and Central Africa. These courses focused on a range of topics, including species identification; investigational techniques and best practices; and evidence management, among others. While ending wildlife crime can often feel like an uphill battle, we see the fruits of these efforts in large-scale seizures of illegally trafficking wildlife, animal parts, and plants, and in the prosecution of smugglers.