LIFE & wildlife crime

Wildlife crime has a negative impact on biodiversity across the world. The illegal killing, poisoning, trapping or trade of species is putting the European Union’s biodiversity under pressure. In April 2017, the European Commission adopted the “Action Plan for nature, people and the economy” to improve the implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives and boost their contribution towards reaching the EU’s biodiversity targets for 2020. The European Commission developed a Roadmap towards eliminating the illegal killing, trapping and trade of birds. It aims to prevent and tackle wildlife crime in the European Union and therefore ensure compliance with the Birds Directive. The Roadmap also supports the recommendations of the Bern Convention and the implementation of the Convention on Migratory Species by outlining four areas in which the European Commission can support Member States to enforce the law. This new publication shows how LIFE projects have already helped contribute to each of the areas identified in the Roadmap: monitoring and data collection, prevention, information exchange, training and awareness- raising, and enforcement and legal aspects.