The PH-SEA Nexus Report
The Philippine-Southeast Asian Nexus Report
IWT is a transboundary crime, and although national-level counter-IWT legislation, enforcement, and project implementation is imperative to translate international agreements into tangible actions, the regional landscape offers a complementary and equally valuable view that places single activities into context and emphasizes the importance of international cooperation. The objective of the report Illegal Wildlife Trade at the Philippine-Southeast Asian Nexus: An Assessment of Projects combatting Illegal Wildlife Trade in Southeast Asia informing the Philippines and guiding Donor Coordination is twofold: 1) To assess past and present counter-IWT projects in Southeast Asia and present recommendations for the potential replication of counter-IWT interventions in the Philippines, and 2) to facilitate donor coordination, guide funding and investment decisions, inform project design, and strengthen inter-organizational and transboundary cooperation in Southeast Asia.
In fulfilling the first objective, the report gives an in-depth assessment of how IWT is addressed in the ASEAN community, looks into the progress of countries in the implementation of CITES and utilization of ICCWC, and discusses regional and international cooperation mechanisms on IWT considered relevant in the region. It continues by giving an overview over the Philippine IWT context, discusses challenges and efforts in combating IWT in the country, and lists relevant regional agreements the Philippines is part of. The, the report assesses legal wildlife trade flows between the Philippines and other ASEAN Member States, and vice versa, and between the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China, and vice versa, based on the CITES database. An overview of IWT flows involving the Philippines follows suit. The core Chapter contains an analysis of counter-IWT projects in the region, including selected best practice examples, and a list of recommendations derived from these activities for potential replication in the Philippines, with each recommendation allocated to the six strategies of the Philippine Wildlife Law Enforcement Action Plan (2018-2028). The next Chapter discusses the process of how this Illegal Wildlife Trade Projects website was developed and analyzes number of projects, per selected target species, and funding for the projects recorded at the time of publishing for Southeast Asia. The final Chapter offers suggestions for the path ahead.
