This past month, the second cohort from North Macedonia participated alongside other professionals from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa in the Wildlife Crime Academy. The Level 2 Advanced Course allowed for this cohort to further delve into the forensic and police investigation in wildlife crime.
As the project continues, it is exciting to be able to provide these opportunities to individuals in North Macedonia who genuinely believe in the end-goal of the courses. By investing in these individuals, we ensure that national training programmes can soon be implemented to transfer the knowledge. Poisoning and poaching are still major threats to the Macedonian wildlife and in order to avoid jeopardizing ecosystems, endangered species as well as human livelihoods- it is dire to take these issues seriously on all levels.
Success stories like the region of Andalusia provide evidence that by treating wildlife crime with equal urgency as any other crime will yield productive investigation, and effective prosecution processes. The multidisciplinarity of the Wildlife Crime Academy courses allow for professionals from all of the Balkans to grasp and be involved in impactful investigation procedures on all levels: starting from investigation to forensics and toxicology, to court procedures. The next and final step is the Level 3 Supreme Course in which participants from both cohorts will continue their training next year.
The BalkanDetox LIFE project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union.
