Grace Farms Foundation (GFF), in collaboration with the Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) and Uganda Wildlife Authority, convened a three-day multi-agency workshop in Uganda this week, to train local law enforcement to combat wildlife trafficking. During the workshop, members of the Tanzania National Anti-Poaching Task Forcespoke about Tanzania’s success story in combating poaching and wildlife trafficking and shared valuable lessons with the newly created National Task Force on Wildlife Crime in Uganda.
Participants included 30 key representatives and law enforcement officers from the National Task Force on Wildlife Crime in Uganda, LATF, Robert Mande, Chairman of the National Anti-Poaching Task Force of the United Republic of Tanzania and GFF. Officials from the United States Homeland Security Nairobi office were in attendance.
The workshop is the latest in a series convened by GFF locally and globally to provide expert training to officials with the goal of dismantling transnational organized crime syndicates and combat poaching and illegal trade in wildlife. Over the past two years, multi-agency trainings have engaged a number of member countries of the African Union, including Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
“By partnering with local and international leaders, government agencies and law enforcement, we are building capacity that will achieve real and successful outcomes,” said GFF’s Chief Accountability Officer & Justice Initiative Director Rod Khattabi. “The collaborations we established this week have strengthened the National Task Force on Wildlife Crime in Uganda and will ultimately lead to new transnational investigations and prosecutions that will help endwildlife trafficking.”
“LATF has the mandate to operate across borders working with national law enforcement agencies to combat wildlife crime. We are delighted by Uganda’s unwavering resolve to conservation which has been reinforced by the creation of this Task Force that will spearhead prosecution led investigations in the fight against wildlife crime in the country and beyond,”said Edward Phiri, Director LATF.
Wildlife trafficking generates more than $10 billion a year for transnational organized criminalnetworks. GFF’s Justice and Nature Initiatives continue to partner with governments and task forces in Africa and Asia to provide law enforcement training to end this crime.
