This archive report was first published on 23 July 2019.
On July 23, 2019, a crucial meeting was held in Dar es Salaam, the main port city of Tanzania, to discuss strategies for tackling wildlife smuggling. The meeting, attended by representatives from the private sector, law enforcement agencies, and non-profit organizations, aimed to strengthen efforts to combat the growing threat of wildlife trafficking.
The participants acknowledged that Tanzania's reputation as a biodiversity hotspot with strong international transport links makes its seaports more vulnerable to wildlife trafficking. They emphasized the need for collaboration among agencies to share intelligence on the tactics used by poachers and traffickers.
Robert Mande, assistant director of the anti-poaching unit in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, stated, "Collaboration among ourselves becomes even more critical when considering the growing network of illegal wildlife dealers worldwide. It is only by sharing intelligence on the tactics used by poachers and traffickers that we can build a united front against them."
Tanzanian ports have been at the centre of several large-scale and high-profile illegal live wildlife seizures and interceptions of shipments of ivory, leopard skins, shark fins, and other wildlife products over the past decade. The country has previously been called the epicentre of Africa's elephant poaching crisis after a government census revealed a 60 per cent decline in its elephant population between 2009 and 2014.
