EU-, AFRICA-, SADC- and Eastern Africa-TWIX Trade in Wildlife Information eXchange

National law enforcement agencies in Europe play a crucial role in the efficient enforcement of EU Wildlife Trade Regulations and CITES through the efforts of customs, police and other inspection services in combating illegal wildlife trade into and from Europe. 

The Europe Trade in Wildlife Information Exchange (EU-TWIX) was the first wildlife trade information exchange to be launched by TRAFFIC. Currently, officials from all EU Member States and twelve neighbouring countries participate in the platform, with more than 1,450 enforcement officials connected and a database which holds information on over 91,000 wildlife seizures. Europe is one of the largest and most diverse markets for wildlife and wildlife products, making co-operation between its countries essential in the fight against illegal wildlife trade.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the European Commission and the following governments for their generous support towards EU-TWIX.

AFRICA-TWIX has already proven to be instrumental in facilitating international co-operation between law enforcement agencies, in certain cases helping to trigger investigations leading to the arrests and prosecutions of traffickers.

Central Africa, including the Congo basin forests which are considered to be the second lung of the earth, is a subregion in the African continent of major concern with regards to the sourcing of illegal wildlife products. Consumer demand for illicit wildlife products is driving the highest rate of poaching ever seen, making it essential to connect enforcement officials within the continent, and beyond. AFRICA-TWIX enables more than just connectivity, it provides officers with the latest resources and identification guides to assist them with wildlife enforcement cases. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the following organisations for their generous support towards AFRICA-TWIX.

The mandate for the establishment of the Southern African Development Community–Trade in Wildlife Information eXchange (SADC-TWIX) emanates from the SADC Law Enforcement and Anti-Poaching (LEAP) Strategy that aims to reduce the level of poaching and illegal trade in wildlife and enhancing law enforcement capacity in the SADC Region. The LEAP strategy explicitly identifies SADC-TWIX system as one of its key deliverables.

The implementation of SADC-TWIX receives financial support from the “Partnership against Poaching and Illegal Wildlife Trade (Ivory and Rhino-Horn) in Africa and Asia”, implemented by GIZ on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV), and WWF France.

The mandate for the establishment of the Eastern Africa-Trade in Wildlife Information eXchange (Eastern Africa-TWIX) emanates from the East Africa Timber Trade Stakeholders’ Forum in 2016 in line with the East African Community’s Strategy of 2017 to Combat Poaching and Illegal Trade and Trafficking of Wildlife and Wildlife Products.

The initiation and implementation of Eastern Africa-TWIX in Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda was made possible through the support of the USAID-funded projects, Wildlife Trafficking, Response, Assessment, and Priority Setting (Wildlife TRAPS) and Conserving Natural Capital and Enhancing Collaborative Management of Transboundary Resources in East Africa (CONNECT), together with WWF Finland through its support to the East Africa Wildlife Crime Hub of WWF and TRAFFIC.

West Africa is home to many precious species of wildlife that are threatened by trafficking, including the western chimpanzee (found only in this region), rosewood (Pterocarpus erinaceus) and three species of pangolin: the Giant, White-bellied, and the Black-bellied pangolins.

The mandate for the establishment of a West Africa- TWIX system emanates from the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) meeting on the “Development of a Coordinated Counter Wildlife Trafficking Response in West Africa (Abuja, Nigeria, 2-4 July 2018)”. The fifteen ECOWAS members states agreed on a set of recommendations and priorities for tackling illegal wildlife trade in the region and highlighted the need for an information-sharing system.