Conservation: Stakeholders Host Workshop to End Illegal Wildlife Trade_Comfort Nkong

To stem the trend of using Nigeria as route for trafficking endangered wild life species and illegal wildlife trade, transporters and financial  institutions took part in a workshop aimed at raising their awareness on how to recognize suspects . The workshop organized by the forestry and wildlife division, ministry of environment was sponsored by USAID with support from WABiLED  in conjunction with forestry division of ECOWAS .

The Needs assessment and capacity strengthening workshop for financial and transport sectors is in a bid to increase awareness on identification of perpetrators.

Speaking on the sidelines of the workshop, representatives of ECOWAS and WABiLED highlighted the significance of the workshop which they said is a regional effort to enlighten participants to the laws and threats to endangered species and point them to what to watch out for to prevent trafficking.

The deputy director wildlife and forestry Mr John Daniels said the synergy is necessary in the interest of endangered species since without money and transport illegal wildlife trade is impossible.He said though some of the endangered species are not from here, Nigeria is utilized as a transit route from where traffickers pick flights to their destination .

The profitability of bush meat trade and items like tusks has continued to fuel illegal wildlife trade but regional alliances are taking action to bring this to an end.