The USAID Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species (ROUTES) Partnership has produced a report based on new research, carried out by C4ADS, exploring the overlap of methods and routes used in wildlife trafficking and other illicit smuggling crimes such as drugs and weapons. Using this analysis, it gives recommendations to aviation and enforcement agencies on how to strengthen mitigation of wildlife trafficking and the wider spectrum of transnational crime. It says that an assessment of the routes, networks and methods used for trafficking wildlife and other illicit goods such as drugs and weapons between 2015-2019 shows a high degree of interconnection, which if addressed could prove hugely beneficial to disrupting illicit activities. Recommendations fall into 3 broad categories –
- improving collection and reporting of seizure data;
- increasing collaboration between aviation and enforcement stakeholders in addressing convergence; and
- refining mitigation activities to address all illicit commodity types.
https://routespartnership.org/industry-resources/publications/sharedskies/view

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