The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, the European Uni
on, EU, and the Federal Government have underscored the need for strategic approach to effectively tackling wildlife and forest crimes.
Country Representative of UNODC, Oliver Stolpe, spoke at the inaugural ceremony of the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime, ICCWC: Analytical Toolkit Nigeria,” in Abuja.
He decried the high level of environmental degradation, saying Nigeria had one of the highest rates of deforestation globally.
Stolpe said excessive, unsustainable, and most illegal extraction threaten the livelihood of local communities and species, adding that wildlife was not only threatened by the continuous shrinking of their habitat, but also by professional poachers and local hunters.
He commended the adoption of the first national strategy to combat crime, the recent establishment of the wildlife enforcement task force, and efforts to review the legislative framework and boost the criminal justice system to be strategic steps taken.
