THE WILDLIFE TRADE MONITORING GROUP

Th operational team of the Scorpion Wildlife Trade Monitoring Group carriedout their second Annual meeting at IBIS Styles Hotel Jakarta Airport on Saturday(11^th of March 2017). The meeting was aimed at setting up a priority planfor 2017.

The meeting discussion covered the development of Scorpion’s activities during 2016and the plan ahead for 2017.

One of the results of this meeting is the agreement that Scorpion will expandits activities in the eastern parts of Indonesia such as the islands of NusaTenggara, Sulawesi, Maluku, and Papua.

Thirty participants attended from multiple provinces, including Aceh; North Sumatra; Riau; Jambi; East Java; West Java; and Jakarta. The attendees were either full time staff,part time staff or volunteers of Scorpion.

Since its establishment in 2015, Scorpion has carried out variousactivities in 15 provinces, including Sumatra; Java; Bali and Borneo, but to date have not been active in the eastern parts of Indonesia.

The complete priority list of activities for 2017 is as follows:

1. Intensify monitoringof animal welfare in zoos and the wildlife trade market, and on the online trading of animals.
2. Develop wildlifemonitoring activities in the eastern parts of Indonesia.
3. Prevent poaching ofprotected species from the forests in Sumatra.
4. Develop partnerships with various organisations, including with non-wildlife organisations
5. Rehabilitatedamaged habitat that is home to protected wildlife in Sumatra.
6. Carry outGeographic Positioning System (GPS) training for Scorpion team members.
7. Develop a wildlifetrade database and mapping of wildlife markets.
8. Monitoring welfareof captive animals in zoos and wildlife parks.
9. Develop a wildlife education program for children.
10. Develop awarenessprogrammes with universities.
11. Provide backgroundinformation related to wildlife issues to the public via media
12. Facilitate the creationof village regulation (Perdes) or customary laws protecting wildlife.

The second annual meeting of Scorpion Foundation attended by thirty participants from Aceh, North Sumara, Riau, Bengkulu, West Java, East Java, and Jakartta. (Photo: Rudianto Sembiring)

The second annual meeting chaired by Programmes Director of Scorpion Foundation, Gunung Gea. (Photo: Rudianto Sembiring)