Strengthen national capacities to combat wildlife crime and raise awareness about the problem in Europe and North Africa

2026-07-22

Strengthen national capacities to combat wildlife crime and raise awareness about the problem in Europe and North Africa Wildlife crime is one of the most pressing conservation issues of today. The mortality caused by wildlife crime leads to population decline of numerous threatened species, and even regional extinctions. It has also become a serious threat to the security, political stability, economy, natural resources and cultural heritage of many countries and regions. The nature of wildlife crime requires a holistic, multi-sector approach, strengthened through partnerships and collaboration with primarily governmental organizations, intergovernmental organizations, CSOs, academia, which are encouraged to enter dialogue with national enforcement authorities and combine their efforts to tackle wildlife crime. The WildLIFECrimeAcademy project provides the necessary conditions for improvement of law enforcement efficiency in combating wildlife crime in the target countries of the project in a sustainable framework, based on the exchange of knowledge and best practice experiences. It focuses on developing basic operational capacities of the relevant governmental authorities for combating wildlife crime and delivering specialized training to all links along the chain of custody responsible for investigating and prosecuting wildlife crime incidents. These set of activities of the WildLIFECrimeAcademy project are based on best practice examples developed by the relevant environmental services in Spain, and already adapted and implemented by the Coordinating beneficiary in other regions of Europe through the LIFE programme to great effect. The project is dedicated to achieving a significant reduction of the mortality of threatened wildlife species, and biodiversity in general, by improving the necessary preconditions for efficient investigation and prosecution of wildlife crime cases in the target countries of the project.

Netherlands

2025-10-15