Conservation organizations urge Cameroon gov’t to intensify wildlife crime fight

Yaounde December 21, 2017: Seven conservation organizations have encouraged the government of Cameroon to intensify the fight against wildlife crime, secure its national ivory stockpiles and report seizures to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES.

 The organizations that include WWF, IUCN, ZSL, TRAFFIC, WCS, African Wildlife Foundation, and LAGA, were reacting to large-scale seizure of 216 elephant tusks and 81 elephant tails and the arrest of two suspects on December 11, 2017 around Djoum, south of the country. They expressed concern about the upsurge in poaching and illegal wildlife trade in Cameroon “particularly, elephant ivory, pangolin scales and parrots in and around protected areas, along major roads as well as and at entry and exit points of the country.”

“Seizures registered in 2017 alone amply illustrates the magnitude of this criminal activity. They include: more than five tons of pangolin scales seized in January in Douala; 159 elephant ivory tusks in March in Bertoua; and 160 elephant ivory tusks, more than one ton of pangolin scales and 124 African grey parrot heads in November in Douala,” the organizations stated in a joint declaration dated December 21.

They said the seizures, “demonstrate the political will and commitment of the Cameroonian government to fight effectively against poaching and related criminal activities, which over the years have increased in magnitude to become a low risk, high profit organized crime.”

The conservation organizations expressed concerns about the increasing involvement of some administrative, judiciary and military personnel in this illegal activity.  They also decried the use of “administrative and military equipment (vehicles, weapons and ammunitions) in poaching and illegal wildlife trade with corruption and complicity recorded along the repression chain.”  This situation, they stated, risk undermining the political will, efforts and resources put by the government and technical and financial partners to preserve the rich biodiversity and the security of the country’s resources.

The conservation organizations reaffirmed their commitment to continue to support the fight against wildlife crime. They said only through effective collaboration and the combination of efforts by different stakeholders backed by a zero-tolerance policy of wildlife crime will the current upward trend in poaching and illegal wildlife trade be reversed.