Strengthening implementation of Zimbabwe's wildlife crime legal system
Key Facts
FUNDING SCHEME Main
VALUE £335,891
WHERE Zimbabwe
Summary
This project will improve implementation of Zimbabwe’s wildlife crime law, so prosecutions are effective and sentences deter poachers and traffickers.
It will do this by:
- hosting 10 workshops to train and mentor c75 prosecutors and judiciary in practical implementation of the Rapid Reference Guide (RRG),
- Supporting development of Zimparks Wildlife Crime Review to improve sentencing guidance, integrating sentencing training into the RRG.
- Building capacity in a Zimbabwean NGO - SOFA - to help deliver RRG training
- Providing 3 legal assistants to monitor court cases
- Measuring the RRG’s impact on legal practice.
Over 600 arrests and more than 500 convictions in wildlife crime since 2017, alongside a decline in ivory trafficking cases and an increase in elephant and rhino populations.
