Bangkok--20 Sep--FREELAND Foundation
Despite the designation of protected areas, Indonesia’s forests remain under constant threat from poaching and illegal logging to supply international demand for timber and wildlife. To strengthen the capacity of law enforcement officers to stop poaching, illegal logging and illegal wildlife trade, the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN), the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) and FREELAND Foundation are assisting Indonesia’s Directorate of Investigation and Forest Protection to train officers from protected areas across Indonesia.
A two-week counter poaching and illegal logging operations training course for 25 commanders and senior officers representing six SPORC (Satuan Polisi Hutan Reaksi Cepat - Rapid Reaction Forest Police Unit) brigades from Sumatra and Java and five officers of POLHUT (Polisi Hutan - Forest Police) is being conducted during September 17-30th, 2010, at Taman Nasional Gunung Gede Pangrango, Jawa Barat, Java. Graduates will be equipped with the skills necessary to pro-actively patrol, seek out and stop poaching and illegal logging in protected areas - crimes that threaten the integrity, biodiversity and resilience of Indonesia’s natural ecosystems.
Conducted by experienced instructors from the enforcement training and conservation group FREELAND Foundation, the intensive two-week course covers remote first aid, navigation, enforcement, weapons handling, patrolling operations, takedowns and arrests.
This is a pilot course based on standardized ASEAN-WEN training being delivered across the ASEAN region (utilizing ACB competency standards for protected area law enforcement jobs). Participating SPORC commanders will help test and tweak the training with the Indonesian National Police and FREELAND instructors to develop a training program that can be delivered to more of the 850 SPORC and 7,200 POL HUT officers responsible for securing protected areas throughout Indonesia.
Pilot trainings like this and complimentary training management packages provided by ASEAN-WEN are helping national authorities institutionalize best-practice forest protection capacity building for ongoing, nation-wide improvement of protected area security. In Indonesia, the Directorate of Investigation and Forest Protection, Indonesian National Police, and the United States Department of Justice’s International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) are strongly supporting efforts to institutionalize best practice law enforcement training.
At the opening of the course, FREELAND Director of Field Operations Mark Bowman, said, “We must not forget about enforcement at the source locations in protected areas. Capacity has to be enhanced here, this is our first line of defense, our second line of defense is building the capacity of police investigators in urban areas to stop the crime there. Once the logs are cut and the animals stolen from the forest, the damage has been done, the crime committed - in most cases it is irrevocable. This is potentially worth billions of dollars in lost revenue, not to mention loss of environmental services, for the country and region, and a threat to regional security and stability.”
The ASEAN-WEN has reported that the scale of illegal wildlife trade in Southeast is alarming. Due to the nature of illicit trade, it is difficult to obtain exact figures but some experts estimate the value of illegal wildlife trade at 10 to 30 billion U.S. dollars annually. Almost all wild species including illegally cut timber, birds, reptiles, and mammals are traded in the region.
“Illegal wildlife trade is an alarming problem. The ASEAN region is a known hotspot for illegal wildlife trade and without proper enforcement of laws, we stand to lose so much of our natural resources. It is crucial for forest rangers to learn how to patrol confidently and safely in a tropical forest environment. A huge and great responsibility rests on their shoulders. This is precisely why the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity is working with Freeland on this training course. We want to equip forest rangers with much-needed skills that they can use in their line of work,” Mr. Rodrigo U. Fuentes, executive director of the European Union-funded ACB, said.
Manop Lauprasert, Senior Officer of the ASEAN-WEN Program Coordination Unit, added, “Protecting large areas of forest from poaching and illegal logging can be difficult. No country has unlimited resources or manpower to dedicate to forest protection. However, with the right training and equipment, rangers are able to patrol far more safely and effectively to better protect Southeast Asia’s remaining forests."
In its gap analysis, the ACB found that ASEAN Member States’ effort to fight illegal wildlife trade is constrained by inadequate training, equipment and infrastructure support, as well as information and science-based technology. Targeted investment in these areas is necessary to secure protected areas and give overexploited ecosystems a chance to rebound.
This counter poaching and illegal logging operations training is jointly organized by the ASEAN-WEN, ACB, and FREELAND Foundation, with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and ACB, as well as funding and in-kind support from Indonesia’s Directorate of Investigation and Forest Protection.
For more information, please contact: Chrisgel Ryan Cruz, Assistant Senior Officer, ASEAN-WEN Program Coordination Unit, Tel: +662 9406286, Email:
[email protected]
Note to Editors:
ASEAN-WEN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Wildlife Enforcement Network. It involves environmental, law enforcement and Customs agencies in all 10 ASEAN countries and facilitates cross-border collaboration in the fight against illegal wildlife trade in the region.
For more information, visit www.asean-wen.org
ACB is the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity. ACB’s vision is that biodiversity is protected, conserved, managed and sustainably used, and its benefits are fairly and equitably shared for the social, economic and environmental well-being of ASEAN Member States.
For more information, visit www.aseanbiodiversity.org
FREELAND Foundation is an international organization dedicated to ending the illegal wildlife trade, conserving natural habitats and protecting human rights. FREELAND works throughout Asia, raising public awareness and building local capacity to protect critical ecosystems, wildlife and human rights.
FREELAND is the lead implementing partner of the U.S. Support Program for the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN), a program that provides investigative assistance, training and other capacity building support to Southeast Asian authorities tasked with stopping poaching and illegal wildlife trade — a major threat to biodiversity.
For more information, visit www.freeland.org
USAID is the United States Agency for International Development. It has been the principal U.S. agency extending assistance worldwide since 1961. In Asia, USAID supports programs addressing problems that cross national boundaries, such as human and wildlife trafficking, HIV/AIDS, natural resources conservation, trade, and political and economic conflict.
For more information, visit www.usaid.gov