• Written by Remi Chandran

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Following the successful implementation of WEMS in Africa, United Nations University called upon scientists, policy makers, industrialists and civil society to strengthen the technological innovations in addressing wildlife crime. During the occasion of the 1^st World Wildlife Day, United Nations University hosted the Tokyo Conference on Combating Wildlife Crime on 3^rd March 2014.  The theme of the Tokyo Conference was on Evidence based policy making in addressing wildlife crime and on how to bring about effective transboundary information sharing on wildlife crime, especially in developing countries. United Nations University also released its policy report titled Bytes beyond borders: strengthening transboundary information sharing on wildlife crime through the Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System (WEMS) initiative

A high level panel participated by the Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Honorable Maria Mutagamba from Uganda discussing on evidence based policy process in addressing wildlife crime

The Tokyo Conference has led to two UN conferences in Africa

• United Nations/Kenya Conference on Space Technology and Applications for Wildlife Management and Protecting Biodiversity in 2016
• Pan-African Conference on Strengthening Information Sharing Infrastructure and Governance Frameworks to Address Human-Nature Conflicts’ in 2019