Project Predator

INTERPOL's Environmental Crime Programme along with the World Bank and partners launched Project Predator during the 80th General Assembly. The project seeks to work with the 13 tiger-range countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar/Burma, Nepal, Thailand, Viet Nam and the Russian Federation to organize collaborative, high-level international efforts to improve political will, transform this will into departmental support, and train officers in the necessary skills. The Project also calls for countries to establish National Tiger Crime Task Forces, which it hopes will encourage the use of modern, intelligence-led enforcement practices for tiger conservation.

While not limited to the protection of tigers, it will also undertake initiatives and advocacy for all Asian “big cats,” including leopards, snow leopards, clouded leopards and Asiatic lions, which are are traded in the same manner as tiger parts.

  

Transboundary Aquifers

The UN/GA recently adopted Resolution 66/104 “Law of Transboundary Aquifers,” calling on the UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme (IHP) to support countries in the sustainable and equitable management of their transboundary aquifers. Furthermore, the resolution encourages UNESCO-IHP to continue its scientific and technical work on the assessment of the transboundary aquifers of the world, noting that this action is key to the peaceful sharing of groundwater resources, the strengthening of regional cooperation and the prevention of conflicts. The UN/GA also recommends that the set of 19 draft articles already annexed to the first Resolution on the topic (R. 63/124 approved in 2008) be considered by member States when negotiating future agreements or arrangements for the management of their transboundary aquifers, where appropriate.

Corruption and access to land

FAO and Transparency International have produced a working paper highlighting the link between weak governance and the likelihood of corruption in land occupancy and administration in more than 60 countries.  In particular, the paper notes that the rapid expansion of the biofuel industry has provided the opportunity for corruption in the land use sector in a number of countries.