His Excellency, the Honorable H. Bakari Mwapachu, Tanzania’s Minister of Public Safety and Public Security, joined the Wildlife Group for its first session, delivering an opening address that acknowledged a serious escalation in the illegal trafficking of wildlife. He noted many recent seizures of contraband, including 223 elephant tusks recovered only a few weeks previously. The Honorable Minister said there was clear evidence of involvement of organized crime groups, and that some criminal syndicates had the ability to outweigh the capacity of law enforcement agencies. He called for improved cooperation between law enforcement agencies and the exchange of information. He specifically cited Interpol’s Ecomessage as a useful initiative, and he charged the meeting to come up with new strategies in the fight against wildlife crime.

The balance of the first day was passed in open session with Wildlife Group members and participating NGOs exchanging presentations, interventions and ideas. Chairman Bill Clark noted this session was the first in the Wildlife Group’s 14 year history open to stakeholders. He also reported that NGOs had contributed U.S. $30,500 to the meeting, and this made possible subsidy for participation of enforcement officers from ten developing countries, as well as some Interpol General Secretariat costs, including simultaneous interpretation (English – French). – all "firsts" for the Wildlife Group.

Interpol participants conducted a series of presentations that informed stakeholders with details of Interpol itself. Presentations covered descriptions of the Organization and several of its wildlife-related projects. Stakeholders learned what Interpol is capable of doing, and what it cannot do.

Eight stakeholder organizations made presentations about the work they are doing which is of interest to wildlife law enforcement. Several of these presentations generated significant discussion.

The Wildlife Group moved to closed session for 25, 26 and 27 September. Some of the significant developments discussed and acted upon in the closed session include:

The Interpol General Secretariat now has its first-ever wildlife officer, Mr. Peter Younger of New Zealand. Mr. Younger’s full-time task focuses on day-to-day Interpol involvement in efforts to suppress wildlife crime. Mr. Younger presented an overview of accomplishments during the previous year.

Training: Most wildlife agencies in developing countries do not have intelligence and investigations units, and criminal cases are normally referred to national police agencies. But wildlife crime is often a low priority for national police agencies, resulting in less than ideal enforcement. The situation could be remedied by creating and training such units in wildlife agencies. Wildlife crime would then be their top – and only – priority. The creation of such units requires a good level of basic professional training, and the Wildlife Group established a mechanism to do that. Fortunately, this is fully compatible with Interpol’s 2007 decision to include Training and Development as a "core function" for the entire Organization.

Ecomessage: The Ecomessage is Interpol’s format-oriented mechanism for reporting wildlife crime to Interpol. Today, it is the only fully international nominal wildlife crime database. The Ecomessage can be used operationally, to provide investigators with useful information during active cases. And it can also be used strategically, to analyze wildlife crime statistics so that enforcement efforts can be better focused. The use of Ecomessage has increased about four fold in the past couple of years, thus expanding the database, but there is still much more that could be done to improve information exchange. The coming year will hopefully see the Ecomessage system streamlined, making it much easier for wildlife agencies to submit data. Ultimately, the data obtained via the Ecomessage should be able to generate an annual wildlife crime assessment – an annual overview of the magnitude, structure and dynamics of criminal syndicates involved in wildlife crime worldwide.

Project Adan: Project Adan is Interpol’s analytical study of major recent cases involving elephant ivory. This analysis revealed much information concerning criminal syndicates responsible for illegal trafficking of ivory. The task of Interpol and the Wildlife Group members now is to use the conclusions and recommendations of Project Adan to suppress ivory trafficking syndicates.

Terms of Reference: Until now, the Wildlife Group functioned without any formal terms of reference. It is presently working with the Interpol General Secretariat to define its ToR. This will then provide the Wildlife Group with agreed-upon parameters from which it can initiate a greater variety of actions to suppress wildlife crime. Similarly, the Wildlife Group is working with the Interpol General Secretariat to formalize financial capacities, thus providing a facility that can receive contributions specifically intended to fight wildlife crime. These initiatives are intended to improve both the transparency and accountability of the Wildlife Group’s activities.

Project teams: The Wildlife Group reviewed the intersessional work of its project teams, and created several new ones. Some project teams are wildlife oriented, and focus attention on efforts to suppress crime involving reptiles, elephant ivory, birds and great apes. Other project teams are more systemic in nature, and focus attention on efforts such as assistance to prosecutors or monitoring the Wildlife Group’s financial affairs.

Smuggling guide: One innovative Wildlife Group initiative involves compiling a guide that identifies a number of the most common techniques criminals use to smuggle wildlife internationally. The Guide will provide wildlife and customs officers with descriptions of the smuggling techniques, along with "best practices" for discovering the smuggling, and what to do when a smuggler is detected.

Discussions: The Wildlife Group conducted wide ranging discussions on a variety of professional concerns, as diverse as the placement of seized live animals to illegal trafficking via the Internet. Each participant had opportunity to discuss specific concerns.

Elections: Bill Clark ( Israel) was re-elected as chairman. Harry Solinger (The Netherlands) was elected as vice-chairman. Robert Anderson (U.S.A.) was elected as secretary. Ann Panoho ( New Zealand) was elected as treasurer.

In conclusion the Wildlife Group discussed the stakeholder participation conducted on day one, and voted by a large majority to invite stakeholders to an open session in association with its 2008 meeting.

Bill Clark
Chairman