Programme Cooperation Agreement 2012 – 2013

ORGFORC and LEAF are evolving quickly, and have already provided a range of results both on the ground and in im- proved international collaboration to combat illegal log- ging, including through meetings and courses worldwide. GRID-Arendal has been central to the overall development and initiation of both projects. Building on its close cooper- ation and involvement in these two projects GRID-Arendal was also closely involved in initiating a collaborative effort in East Africa with UNODC, INTERPOL and UN REDD. A joint proposal for USD 5.7 million has been developed and submitted to the Norwegian Government.

SIGNIFICANT OUTCOME: Court cases By emphasizing crime scene management and secur- ing evidence the likelihood of suspects going to court, being prosecuted and sentenced becomes much high- er. Preliminary reports from a few selected LEAF and ORGFORC trainees had shown over 250 arrests. Of these, 57% were convicted in 2012, but as many as 92% were convicted in 2013 owing to much stronger empha- sis on securing evidence and crime scene investigation training.

SIGNIFICANT OUTCOME: Frontline protection of natural resources Project ORGFORC works at several different levels, training the judiciary, investigators, and customs officers – but also frontline rangers that enforce the protection of the protected areas and reserves that hold most of the remaining forest. In Tanzania, for example, over 500 enforcement officers and instructors were trained in 2013 alone, up from 75 in 2012. One 30 man unit in one part of Tanzania has made over 254 arrests and seized an estimated 44 assault rifles involved in illegal logging, charcoal production or elephant poaching in the past year. They specifically work with local communities to improve information networks against organized crime. The following comments were given recently by some of the unit commanders and leaders trained: “The training on tracking has had a positive effect in our work. We were losing hope during search of the tracks of poach- ers and loggers in the field but after tracking training we got some techniques to do some more track search until we get a poacher or arrive at the scene of crime. I welcome more training to me and my people and also at other posts.” Commander (Ranger) A, 18/10/2013 “Right now we are in a forest reserve where there are people doing illegal mining inside the forest. With the tracking knowl- edge from the training I easily follow their footsteps which leads us to their camps within the reserve and we arrest them as well as destroying their camps and also we are tracking people who cut down trees for timber production which is also illegal” Ranger D, 28/10/2013

Crime scene management and tracking training by Tanzanian Lead Instructor Ms. Rosemary Kweka at Pasiansi Institute. Ms. Kweka was trained in the programme as a lead instructor and now train hundreds of rangers under the approval of the Tanzanian authorities.

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