Combat Wildlife Trafficking in Nepal

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Wildlife trafficking is a lucrative form of transnational organized crime (TOC) that has decimated populations of species, such as elephants, rhinos, pangolins, and more. Wildlife trafficking fuels corruption; threatens the rule of law, peace, and security; spreads disease; and destabilizes communities that depend on wildlife for biodiversity and eco-tourism revenues. Criminal organizations are profiting from this illicit trade, relying on their ability to exploit porous borders and weak institutions, and leveraging multilevel illicit networks of criminal intermediaries and government officials to move illegal wildlife from source to demand countries. INL aims to combat wildlife trafficking (CWT) through effective programming at the national, regional, and international levels. For this funding opportunity, INL intends to focus on Nepal. Due to its location between India and China, Nepal serves as a significant source and transit country for wildlife trafficking. Poaching is an ongoing and growing problem in the region. In addition, criminal networks are increasingly exploiting gaps in Nepal, through which they are able to move illegal wildlife products from India and Nepal directly into China. It is critically important that Nepal improves its capacity to CWT to mitigate their vulnerability to transnational criminal operations. The ultimate goal of this program is to increase Nepal’s desire and ability to CWT and disrupt the criminal organizations that perpetrate this heinous crime. 1. Priority Countries Nepal 2.     Project Goals The goal of this program is to improve Nepal’s will and capacity to investigate, arrest, prosecute, convict, and sentence to the fullest extent of the law the perpetrators of wildlife crime. To achieve this goal, INL seeks to fund programs that will: 1. Build the investigative and enforcement functions of provincial law enforcement ministries; 2. Develop interagency cooperation; and/or 3. Enhance prosecutorial and judicial capacity.

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