LATF concludes regional training workshop on Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System (WEMS)

The Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) in collaboration with the University of Twente (ITC)-The Netherlands and the United Nations University (UNU)-Japan has just concluded a three-day training workshop on Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System (WEMS). WEMS is a web-based software for collecting, analyzing and sharing wildlife related data. LATF recognizes that information sharing is key to effective law enforcement.

The training workshop geared towards developing an effective wildlife information centre in Africa, took place from 23rd to 25th May 2011 at the Kenya Wildlife Service Headquarters in Nairobi. The training whose participants were drawn from some members of the Lusaka Agreement namely Congo (Brazzaville), Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania is the first phase of the implementation of the system by  LATF which will  in the medium-term cover all member states to the Lusaka Agreement and eventually all countries in Africa .

The training workshop was opened by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife in Kenya Mr. M.A.M. Wa-Mwachai who congratulated the Lusaka Agreement Task Force and the Partners (UNU, ITC), the hosts Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the sponsors of the workshop International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) for the significant milestone in developing an effective system for enhancing wildlife information collection and sharing.

The opening session was also graced by the representative of the Director of the Division of Environmental Law and Conventions (DELC) of UNEP Dr. Margaret Oduk, the representative of the Director of the Kenya Wildlife Service Mr. Elema Halake and the Regional Director (East Africa) for International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Mr. James Isiche.

The Lusaka Agreement Task Force highly appreciates the success attained during the training which is attributed to the partners University of Twente-ITC and the United Nations University for providing the software as well as the resource persons for the workshop, member states for providing trainees and indeed the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) for the requisite financial support that facilitated the training.

Participants Group Photo