Several customs and water and forest officials have been trained in the fight against illegal wildlife trafficking. The workshop took place from September 09 to 11, 2020 in Lomé in the PASA project coordination meeting room.

This training workshop for customs officials in the fight against crime and illegal trade in protected species of wild fauna and flora aims to strengthen the technical capacities of customs officials on the various themes related to the fight against the phenomenon.

As participation is an essential element of learning, the training was interactive and encouraged the exchange of experiences and the involvement of all participants. For three (3) days, a total of twenty (20) participants including fifteen (15) customs officers from customs control units and five (05) water and forest officers were trained on the measures to be adopted in order to apprehend offenders and protect endangered species.

This workshop is part of a presentation of the training of trainers for customs officials from certain countries in West and Central Africa, including Togo, which was held in February 2019 in Cotonou, Benin.

During the three (3) days, participants were equipped with modules such as: the CITES convention and implementing bodies; national legislation implementing CITES; understanding the appendices to CITES, wildlife regulated by CITES; border inspections; border inspections; control of CITES permits; control of CITES permits; main species traded in the region; main trafficking routes in wild specimens; transnational crime in the subregion West African; permit fraud; CITES, a sustainable development tool; role customs in enforcing wildlife laws.

On January 21, 1979, Togo ratified the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES).