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Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System (WEMS)

The Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System (WEMS) is an environmental governance project whose objective is to monitor and protect wild fauna and flora from illegal wildlife trade. The project is a joint effort carried out by UNU-IAS and the United Nations University Campus Computing Centre, in partnership with the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) at the University of Twente and the Lusaka Agreement Task Force.

WEMS brings together national enforcement institutions to a common data collection and reporting mechanism through the WEMS 2.0 information system. Considered the first of its kind to bridge governance, policy analysis and Information technology, WEMS uses ICT as a tool to monitor environmental policy and governance in East Africa, and has commenced its first phase in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Congo. Using spatial and non-spatial information, WEMS enables wildlife law enforcement officials in Africa to quantify the extraction and transboundary trade of endangered fauna and flora protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

More information on the project is available at wems-initiative.org.

Publications:
- Bytes beyond Borders: Strengthening Transboundary Information Sharing on Wildlife Crime through the Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System (WEMS) Initiative, February 2013

Media Releases:
- Africa Gears up for Inauguration of the Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System (WEMS), 11 July 2011
- Harvard’s Center for Geographic Analysis and UNU-IAS collaborate to enhance spatial dimensions of Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System, 15 December 2011
- Fighting Wildlife Crime: Sharing Information Across Borders, 6 March 2013

Contact person: Remi Chandran (chandran[at]ias.unu.edu)