The agreement, signed by UNU Vice-Rector and Executive Officer Max
Bond and AIT President Prof. Worsak Kanok-Nukulchai, seeks to bring
together national enforcement institutions to a common data and
reporting mechanism. This shall be an important activity that seeks to
establish the WEMS-Asia Secretariat at AIT under the aegis of AIT
Solutions.
In June 2016, AIT Solutions had proposed the establishment of the
WEMS-Asia Secretariat at AIT, which was accepted by the AIT Management
Team.
“Signing of the license agreement with UNU is in tune with AIT’s
commitment to advance sustainable development in the region,” AIT
Vice-President for Development Mr. Surendra Shrestha said. This will
not only facilitate transcontinental collaboration with Africa and
other continents on biodiversity management through capacity
development, knowledge transference and outreach but also extend
support to countries in monitoring Sustainable Development Goals”, he
added.
WEMS is a web-based information-sharing platform developed by UNU as a
response to the UN member states’ call for a common framework in
collection, compilation, analysis and reporting of information related
to enforcement of national legislations on wild fauna and flora
protection as well as compliance with the Convention on International
Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and other
relevant international conventions.
WEMS Asia will empower governments in Asia to monitor poaching and
trafficking of wildlife and forest products, while facilitating
cross-border and cross-continent collaborations, building capacity and
catalysing knowledge transference targeted at undermining the
multi-billion dollar illicit trade that is pushing many of the most
iconic species to the brink of extinction.
WEMS has been successfully implemented in African countries, namely
Congo-Brazzaville, Liberia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia through
the Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF), the intergovernmental law
enforcement institution which is also the Secretariat of the Lusaka
Agreement on Cooperative Enforcement Operations Directed at Illegal
Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora.
More details about WEMS is available at this link: http://www.wems-initiative.org/
