Wildlife Crime Conference 2024
Date: 17th October 2024
Wildlife Crime Conference: Strength in Unity
This Conference aims to enhance cross-sectoral collaboration for wildlife and environmental protection. It hopes to bridge the gaps between government bodies, conservation groups, legal experts, and community stakeholders. It focuses on unravelling the complexities of existing legislation protecting wildlife and the environment, and highlighting the necessity of cohesive efforts to tackle wildlife crimes and conserve biodiversity.
Through a series of engaging talks, interactive workshops; mock crime scenes and court cases, and networking sessions, participants will explore innovative strategies for policy integration, share best practices for enforcement and compliance, and foster partnerships that leverage the strengths of diverse sectors. This conference represents a unique opportunity to catalyse action, inspire change, and advance collective efforts towards sustainable environmental stewardship and wildlife conservation.
Jointly hosted by PAW Ireland and WRI
Conference Programme
Thursday 17th October
| 09.00 | Registration & Coffee | ||
| 09.30 | Welcome & Introduction to PAW Ireland | ||
| 10.00 | Netting Nature: enforcing wildlife legislation for sustainable fisheries management | (Inland Fisheries Ireland) | |
| 10.30 | Unmasking the Culprit: safeguarding wildlife and animal welfare | (Dept of Agriculture, Food & the Marine) | |
| 11.00 | Legal Labyrinth: navigating the overlap of legislation in animal welfare cases | Fiona Conlon & Alice Lacey (Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals – ISPCA Senior Inspectors) | |
| 11.30 | Unveiling the Underworld: intercepting wildlife trafficking to safeguard biodiversity | ||
| 12.00 | EPA’s role of inspection surveillance in environmental protection acts | David Smith (Legal Department in the Office of Environmental Enforcement at the Irish Environmental Protection Agency) | |
| 12.30 | Lunch | ||
| 1.30 | Guardians of Nature: An Garda Síochána’s and NPWS’ Role in Preventing Wildlife Crime | (AGS) & (NPWS) | |
| 2.10 – 2.25 | Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) – Case 1 with Table 1 | CSI: Crime scene 1
Table 1 – Authorised Officers from NPWS, AGS, IFI, ISPCA, DAFM (or unofficial reps – URs) |
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| 2.10 – 2.25 | Crime Scene Investigation (CSI) – Case 2 with Table 2 | CSI: Crime scene 2
Table 2 – Authorised Officers from NPWS, AGS, IFI, ISPCA, DAFM (or URs) |
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| 2.25 | Prosecution – Case 1 | Panel: Kevin Kelly (UK NWCU), Judy Peters (La Touche Training) and previous speakers | |
| 3.25 | Coffee | ||
| 3.45 | Prosecution – Case 2 | Panel: Kevin Kelly (UK NWCU), Judy Peters (La Touche Training) and previous speakers | |
| 4.45 | Interagency Collaboration in Detecting and Prosecuting Wildlife Crimes | Discussion & Summary (Panel : All Conference Speakers. Chair: Judy Peters) | |
| 5.30 | Close | ||
Speakers
We are delighted to welcome the following guest speakers:
Fiona Conlon
(Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals – ISPCA Senior Inspector)
Kevin Kelly
(Head of UK National Wildlife Crime Unit)
Alice Lacey
(Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals – ISPCA Senior Inspector)
Judy Peters
(La Touche Training)
David Smith
(Legal Department in the Office of Environmental Enforcement at the Irish Environmental Protection Agency)
