Moreover, these online platforms provide direct sellers and buyers with dedicated pages and groups to traffic wildlife, feeding larger global networks. The ease facilitated though electronic payment platforms is encouraging people to trade in wildlife especially with the encryption tools that allows these people to remain anonymous.In order to limit the spread of illegal online wildlife trade, IFAW ( International Fund for Animal Welfare ), in cooperation with the Supreme Council for the Environment in Bahrain, is implementing a regional training workshop on combating wildlife cybercrime on 14-16 June 2022 in Manama, Bahrain. Conducted by IFAW, with technical assistance from the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), this workshop will train participants on methods to track online activities and report accounts used to illegally trade in wildlife.“Distinguishing between legal and illegal wildlife trade is particularly challenging online – especially given the huge volume of daily transactions,” said Elsayed Mohamed, IFAW’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. He continued, “There are already many threats on wildlife and their natural habitats, endangered animals cannot survive further pressure coming from the online market which is open 24/7”.The capacity of wildlife law enforcement authorities in investigating these accounts online must be built to research and audit online accounts violating the law. His Excellency also reviewed the efforts made by the Kingdom of Bahrain toward combating the illegal trade of endangered species starting with the accession of the Kingdom of Bahrain to CITES in 2012 until the issuance of Environmental Law No.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 14, 2022 20:06 UTC