Learn how Ferguson Lynch supported USAID Reducing Demand for Wildlife (RDW)
Working to Stop Wildlife Crime
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), working closely with the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), addressed wildlife trafficking as a
transnational crime through the USAID Reducing Demand for Wildlife (RDW) activity.
The activity worked to reduce consumer demand for wildlife parts and products,
strengthen law enforcement skills, enhance policy, legislation and jurisprudence and
improve regional action to reduce wildlife crime in Southeast Asia and China.
Online Learning
Ferguson Lynch built a web-based environment for delivering online courses and managing virtual learning cohorts. The CWT Online Learning Platform is a one-stop shop to facilitate access to self-paced courses, capacity building tools and materials.
Reference Materials
The USAID RDW portal provides a comprehensive selection of reference materials to support legal and enforcement professionals in the application of laws pertaining to wildlife crime.
Campaigns
Regional campaigns aimed at reducing consumer demand for wildlife parts and products in Southeast Asia and China highlight the work of USAID RDW.
Online Learning
Counter Transnational Organized
Crime (CTOC) Course
The course is designed to help law enforcement investigators identify and disrupt transnational organized crime groups involved in wildlife trafficking.
The CTOC course draws from actual case typologies to equip law enforcement networks with the capacity necessary to dismantle organized crime syndicates. It was developed as a response to the need for integrating capacity-building initiatives with platforms, systems, skills and knowledge that enhance coordination, collaboration and information sharing.
Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Training Package
The sheer volume of available data requires the effective management of resources. The application of a methodological approach to OSINT retrieval, assessment and recording helps maximize our investigative opportunities and minimize our security risks.
This training package contains strategies, techniques and resources that will provide a basis on which a methodology can be built and adjusted to your particular needs.
Reference Materials
Pangolin Species Identification
Booklets and posters to assist law enforcement and legal professionals.
Despite a ban on international trade by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), pangolins are still one of the most trafficked mammals in the world. As a result, each of the eight species is now threatened with extinction. The USAID Pangolin Species Identification materials were developed to reverse this trend by assisting law enforcement officers identify pangolins in trade, including body parts and scales.
Rapid Reference Guide (English and Thai)
The Rapid Reference Guide (RRG) contains brief descriptions of all specialized laws/regulations as well as ancillary statutes, such as anti-money laundering, tax evasion and anti-corruption. The Thai RRG is designed to help investigators, case managers and prosecutors build an evidential case against those accused of wildlife and related crimes. It is primarily a tool for prosecutors and wildlife crime investigators in Thailand, but is also an important reference for the broader law enforcement community conservation stakeholders working together to combat wildlife crimes and bring criminals to justice.
Campaigns
Wildlife Free Gifting
Considering the attention to the issue of wild meat consumption due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the campaign started with a focus on pangolin parts/products.
The campaign used “The lunar calendar of green healthy living” to easily draw people’s attention. It featured five different scenarios in daily life; each scenario presented gifting with one of the four focal species as wrong behaviors. There were five scenarios, with ivory featured in two of them – one as a gift for female elders during the family reunion and the other as a souvenir when traveling abroad. The scenarios portrayed typical social interactions and occasions which resonate with the target audiences.
Only Elephants Wear Ivory Best
This campaign featured Cindy Sirinya Bishop, along with Master Tossaporn Sritula (Master Chang), a renowned Thai astrology and feng shui expert, as wildlife demand reduction champions. In addition to addressing the perceived beauty of ivory among the target demographic, the campaign aimed to counter another key driver of the consumption of ivory products in Thailand – the belief that these products bring luck leading to a good life and happiness.
No Ivory No Tiger Amulets
This campaign targeted spiritual beliefs to reach and engage those who desire to buy and use ivory and tiger parts and products motivated by their perceived beliefs in the power of these products to bring good luck or prevent harm. The campaign was implemented by RDW and the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP).
