Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73

§7612 Statement of United States policy

Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 95— - ELIMINATE, NEUTRALIZE, AND DISRUPT WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - PURPOSES AND POLICY › § 7612

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The United States will act immediately to stop illegal international wildlife trade and the cross‑border crime that supports it. It sets five goals: (1) stop illegal global wildlife trade and related organized crime; (2) give technical and other help to key countries to halt poaching of elephants, rhinoceroses, and other imperiled species and end illegal trade, offering eight kinds of assistance including protection and population management, anti‑poaching and protected area work, local security involvement, investigative and forensic tools, transparency and anti‑corruption measures, tracking seized wildlife, demand‑reduction help, and international cooperation; (3) use U.S. assets together to curb poaching and break trafficking networks and their funding in ways suited to each country; (4) build on the National Strategy and Implementation Plan to guide a full U.S. response; and (5) recognize links between wildlife trafficking and wider transnational crime and, where relevant, address them in a coordinated way.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §7612

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

It is the policy of the United States—

(1)to take immediate actions to stop the illegal global trade in wildlife and wildlife products and associated transnational organized crime;

(2)to provide technical and other forms of assistance to help focus countries halt the poaching of elephants, rhinoceroses, and other imperiled species and end the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products, including by providing training and assistance in—

(A)wildlife protection and management of wildlife populations;

(B)anti-poaching and effective management of protected areas including community managed and privately-owned lands;

(C)local engagement of security forces in anti-poaching responsibilities, where appropriate;

(D)wildlife trafficking investigative techniques, including forensic tools;

(E)transparency and corruption issues;

(F)management, tracking, and inventory of confiscated wildlife contraband;

(G)demand reduction strategies in countries that lack the means and resources to conduct them; and

(H)bilateral and multilateral agreements and cooperation;

(3)to employ appropriate assets and resources of the United States Government in a coordinated manner to curtail poaching and disrupt and dismantle illegal wildlife trade networks and the financing of those networks in a manner appropriate for each focus country;

(4)to build upon the National Strategy and Implementation Plan to further combat wildlife trafficking in a holistic manner and guide the response of the United States Government to ensure progress in the fight against wildlife trafficking; and

(5)to recognize the ties of wildlife trafficking to broader forms of transnational organized criminal activities, including trafficking, and where applicable, to focus on those crimes in a coordinated, cross-cutting manner.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 7612

Title 16 — Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73