Fighting illegal trade of endangered species with the help of open data and digital commons: the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and Open Knowledge France announce a partnership
pierre chrzanowski - October 9, 2017 in Communiqué
Fighting the traffic of endangered species of wild fauna and flora
The traffic of endangered species, fauna and flora, is estimated to be the fourth illegal trade in the world in terms or monetary value. It finances terrorism and contributes to the extinction of species. To respond to this threat, an international cooperation framework has been established, called CITES, for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. This framework defines a list of threatened species by country of origin, 35,000 species in total, as well as a set of protection measures to be applied, such as the prohibition of trade. In France, the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs coordinates the fight against the illegal trafficking of endangered species abroad through the department of biodiversity, forest and oceans and in collaboration with other local and international actors such as the French customs, the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition, but also the Museum of Natural History and the international CITES secretariat based in Geneva within the UNEP, the United Nations Environment Agency.The data challenge
One of the main challenges in implementing the CITES agreement is the ability to identify precisely which species are endangered and which sanctions to apply according to the country of origin. The issue is to better inform the various stakeholders involved inthe fight against trafficking, in particular customs officers and other control forces, but also to raise awareness among potential trafficking actors (sellers, buyers, tourists, etc.) on the penalties incurred. A large set of information about the protection of endangered species already exists, including the Species + register, which lists species and their legal status by country. However, this register is intended primarily to experts, and is of a less use for customs officers or tourists, and does not enable or facilitate species identification. Besides, most of the information is only available in English.Objectives of the partnership
This partnership aims to develop a web and mobile application that allows to easily identify a species, determine its status, and inform about related sanctions. Such an application could be used both to raise awareness among tourists, but also to strengthen control forces and other actors within the CITES framework. The second axis of this partnership is to explore the opportunities offered by digital commons to better manage, promote and use available digital content related to endangered species such as databases, images and texts of laws. About Open Knowledge France Open Knowledge France is a French non-profit organisation (association of law 1901) member of the Open Knowledge International network. Open Knowledge France develops tools, projects and communities to promote open data and open access to knowledge in France and in Francophone countries. About the Biodiversity, Forests and Oceans department of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs The Biodiversity, Forests and Oceans department is part of the Sub-Directorate for Environment and Climate elaborates, which elaborates policies related to tackling climate change, access to sustainable energy, forests and biodiversity protection, terrestrial and marine ecosystems preservations, natural hazards prevention, and supports the establishment of sustainable production and consumption activies. Press Contact:Open Knowledge France: contact@okfn.fr