Building Wildlife Forensics Legal Capacity within Indonesia

The U. S. National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Trafficking sets forth a robust, whole- of- government approach that focuses on three key objectives to stop wildlife trafficking â¿¿ strengthening enforcement, reducing demand for illegally traded wildlife, and expanding international cooperation. A critical element of the National Strategy is to strengthen wildlife law enforcement globally. The National Strategy for Combating Wildlife Traffickingâ¿¿s Implementation Plan specifically calls on the U.S. government to do the following: operationally support regional coordination to deter, apprehend and prosecute traffickers among neighboring nations; support key partners that assist foreign governments in applying the law in national parks and other wildlife areas, as well as enforcing the law through an effective legal system; and work with key countries to assess training resources and build prosecutorial and judicial capacity through training and technical support. This project enables the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) to address these critical needs. Recent assessments of the capacity of Indonesian government agencies to counter wildlife trafficking identified several priorities areas for U.S. government engagement in regards to wildlife law enforcement, including improved wildlife crime investigation, improved understanding of the value of wildlife, wildlife laws and appropriate charges and sentencing on wildlife crime by judges and magistrates, and improved capacity of prosecutors to prosecute wildlife crime.