National institutions take part in workshop to combat wildlife trafficking in Brazil

Conservare participates in the IMPACTAS Workshop, a Federal Police project aimed at combating Wildlife Trafficking.

Project Federal Police in the fight against trafficking in wild animals, has the support of the Federal Revenue Service, the Federal Highway Police, Ibama, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) and Vigiagro, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS Brasil), Conservare Wild ConsultingINPA and VINCI Airports.

Photo: WCS Brazil

The Federal Delegate who led the workshop, Joziel Brito he comments:

"The importance of this event is that it brings together various agencies fighting crimes against wildlife with the same mission, seeking to exchange knowledge, contacts and creating a task force against this crime which is considered by many to be the third most lucrative crime, second only to arms and drug trafficking. "

"The fight against wildlife trafficking is multidisciplinary and intersects with the work of various federal, state and municipal agencies, as well as the extremely important work of civil society. IMPACTAS was born within the Federal Police, but it is a project of society. It's important for the Federal Police to establish ties of professional cooperation, and with this we have participated in various activities, for example, with ICMBio where we work with the National Action Plans for the conservation of endangered species (PANs), which are government actions that also involve civil society." adds the biologist and Federal Police expert Bruno Duar.

On the other days of the event, real operations were carried out to inspect air passengers and their baggage, as well as land, air, river and sea cargo and parcels.

Photo: ICMBio/RAN

Conservation of species

Integration and joint work between public bodies and private entities to combat illegal practices is fundamental to effectively combating biodiversity trafficking, as it makes it possible to seize cargo, reducing the supply on the market and identifying the largest number of people involved in the crime.

"WCS's role, as a conservation NGO, is to bring this kind of information, bring players together and support events like IMPACTAS. It's the first time that an event with so many important agencies has taken place in the Amazon region, inside an international airport from where many flights leave for various parts of the world, and which is also, unfortunately, an exit point for much of Brazil's fauna." highlights the biologist Antônio CarvalhoSpecialist in Combating Wildlife Trafficking of the WCS Brazil.

Photo: Conservare

Private sector contribution

The event was also attended and contributed to by Conservare Wild ConsultingConservare's biologist and communications coordinator has been working all week to prepare instructional material for airport agents in order to intensify inspections, Beatriz Morais:

"Conservare is a private company, and within all our work fronts, we seek to contribute to the fight against wildlife trafficking, especially with public conservation policies. We have been contracted by WCS Brasil to carry out a major nationwide survey of information on the subject, as well as developing a guide for APACs and other enforcement agents. It's a challenging activity, but we believe that together with IMPACTAS it will be of great value in the inspection process."

O IBAMA, INPA, ICMBio, Internal Revenue Service e Federal Highway Police are also present at the event bringing valuable information that contributes to the correct identification of seized samples and which will directly serve the Federal Police's understanding of how to proceed with occurrences.

"ICMBio/RAN works to provide technical support to other federal institutions, offering classification of amphibian and reptile species based on photos and other samples, products or by-products. We offer information on amphibian and reptile species, especially those threatened with extinction. In this event, RAN is seeking to broaden and deepen its contribution to combating wildlife trafficking, especially of herpetofauna." a veterinarian and environmental analyst at ICMBio's Reptile and Amphibian Research and Conservation Center (ICMBio/RAN), Carlos Roberto Abrahão.

The event was made possible thanks to funding from two international institutions that support the fight against trafficking, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The event marks an important moment for the protection of wildlife in the country and it is hoped that from this initiative many activities will be developed over the coming years to strengthen the work of inspection agents.