West African nations are committed to protecting their wildlife from poaching and wildlife crime and have signed onto action plans in 2014 and 2018 to increase regional protections for CITES-listed shark and ray species that are threatened by over-exploitation due to international trade.
To help enact these action plans, Born Free USA organized a training this week in Accra, Ghana attended by customs and law enforcement officials from several West African nations. The training aimed to achieve three primary goals:
- Provide participants with the skills they need to train their colleagues/agencies once they return to their home nations;
- Provide participants with the opportunity to practice their training skills in a classroom setting with practical exercises; and
- Provide participants with the opportunity to interact with colleagues from other countries, with the goal of forming a CITES enforcement training network and develop best practices across the region.
Born Free USA is committed to working with African governments to equip border guards and other law enforcement officials with the resources, training, and knowledge necessary to counter wildlife crime. This training in Ghana is part of a series of programs slated to take place in West Africa to help law enforcement officials counter illegal wildlife trade. This is just one of the many ways Born Free USA helps to keep wildlife in the wild.