Title 16 — ConservationRelease 119-73not60

§7644 Community Conservation

Title 16 › Chapter 95— ELIMINATE, NEUTRALIZE, AND DISRUPT WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING › Subchapter IV— PROGRAMS TO ADDRESS THE ESCALATING WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING CRISIS › § 7644

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of State can work with USAID, other U.S. agencies, businesses, NGOs, and partners to help certain focus countries put a strategic plan into action to create, grow, and copy community wildlife conservancies and community conservation programs. The aim is to help rural areas be safer and more stable, let communities manage and benefit from wildlife over the long term, and reduce poaching and trafficking. Help can include promoting conservation businesses (like eco‑tourism and stewardship farming), creating other jobs so people do not turn to poaching, working with regional companies on anti‑poaching tools and services, helping communities share information safely with law enforcement, giving technical help for land‑use and stewardship plans, supporting community anti‑poaching efforts (including local policing and informant networks), helping governments make useful rules and policies, and making sure national authorities quickly support communities facing risks from anti‑poaching work.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §7644

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Secretary of State, in collaboration with the United State Agency for International Development, heads of other relevant United States agencies, the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and other development partners, may provide support in focus countries to carry out the recommendations made in the strategic plan required under section 7631(a)(2) of this title as such recommendations relate to the development, scaling, and replication of community wildlife conservancies and community conservation programs in focus countries to assist with rural stability and greater security for people and wildlife, empower and support communities to manage or benefit from their wildlife resources in a long-term biologically viable manner, and reduce the threat of poaching and trafficking, including through—

(1)promoting conservation-based enterprises and incentives, such as eco-tourism and stewardship-oriented agricultural production, that empower communities to manage wildlife, natural resources, and community ventures where appropriate, by ensuring they benefit from well-managed wildlife populations;

(2)helping create alternative livelihoods to poaching by mitigating wildlife trafficking, helping support rural stability, greater security for people and wildlife, responsible economic development, and economic incentives to conserve wildlife populations;

(3)engaging regional businesses and the private sector to develop goods and services to aid in anti-poaching and anti-trafficking measures;

(4)working with communities to develop secure and safe methods of sharing information with enforcement officials;

(5)providing technical assistance to support land use stewardship plans to improve the economic, environmental, and social outcomes in community-owned or -managed lands;

(6)supporting community anti-poaching efforts, including policing and informant networks;

(7)working with community and national governments to develop relevant policy and regulatory frameworks to enable and promote community conservation programs, including supporting law enforcement engagement with wildlife protection authorities to promote information-sharing; and

(8)working with national governments to ensure that communities have timely and effective support from national authorities to mitigate risks that communities may face when engaging in anti-poaching and anti-trafficking activities.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 7644

Title 16 — Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60