Training will help civil servants to identify signs of wildlife trade

Young people and government workers are being educated on commonly smuggled wildlife species so they can play their part in stopping the illegal trade in wild animals.

Led by the Dubai section of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, the programme is part of regional training for those thought to be in the best position to stop trafficking.

“We believe the exchange of information between source and destination countries is critical to combating wildlife trafficking,” said Dr Elsayed Mohamed, the fund’s Mena director.

“But this is in addition to training officers and employees to identify the species commonly traded and raising awareness of the techniques used by smugglers.”

The UAE is an important transit route for traffickers, a recent US report claimed.

This new training includes lectures on the most common species poached and trafficked, said Kinda Jabi, spokeswoman for the fund in Dubai.

“The students and employees were all proactive in raising important questions on the accurate identification of wild animals and their products, such as ivory, fur and skin from reptiles and other endangered species,” Ms Jabi said.

From 2009 to last year, there were 117 cases of smuggling recorded at airports across the UAE.

Poachers are increasingly going online with their illegal trade, a global conference held by the fund this month in London revealed.

Over six weeks, the fund identified advertisements across four countries for 11,772 endangered and threatened specimens worth more than £3 million (Dh14.4m).

The numbers of many endangered species are at a tipping point because of demand for their parts or for exotic pets.

“The internet provides wildlife traffickers access to a vast international marketplace, one without borders and that is open 24 hours a day,” said Tania McCrea-Steele, an international project manager with the fund.

“Wildlife cyber criminals exploit the anonymity afforded to them online. Many online marketplaces and social media platforms are working hard to stop this but we all have a part to play. If we don’t buy, they don’t die.”

The fund is developing a public network that can identify signs of animal trafficking and report them to authorities.

In the fund’s 2014 report called Wanted, Dead or Alive, social media platforms and forums in China were said to be responsible for more than half of the illegal trade passing through the UAE.

In 1990, the UAE joined the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which covers the regulation of the international animal trade.

The numbers of many endangered and threatened species are at a tipping point