The Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) Biodiversity Management Bureau entered into a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) to improve efforts against illegal wildlife trade beginning with the country’s five major seaports.
The seaports included in the agreement are the Lipata Port in Surigao del Norte, Nasipit Port in Agusan del Norte, Manila North Harbor, Manila South Harbor and Manila International Container Terminal.
The partnership will eventually be extended to all 337 PPA-registered seaports nationwide.
The parties noted that from 2010 to 2020, only 17 cases of wildlife confiscations in ports were overseen by the PPA.The United Nations Environment Program said such activities have an estimated value of $23 billion per year.
Earlier assessment of the five seaports indicated several factors must be addressed to fight wildlife trafficking, especially with the absence of a single window environment for electronic clearance system in the ports and the lack of intelligence and intelligence access on a regional scale.
Other problems aimed to be resolved are the lack of risk profiling system with wildlife crime risk indicators; absence of a K9 unit capable of detecting wildlife, by-products and derivatives; absence of established standard operating procedures for inspection and seizure of wildlife and other illicit goods; and lack of a protocol on post seizure investigation of cases.
The partnershipalso targets to resolve issues on the under-utilized communication exchange with international institutions of local ports’ information exchange systems; establishment of a system to maintain employees’ integrity and professional standards to deter corrupt practices; and the absence of the participation of industry operators and other supply chains.
The DENR-PPA capability building against illegal wildlife trade will be implemented in three years, to be assisted by the Global Environment Facility and the Asian Development Bank.
