Innovative solutions to fight wildlife trafficking and to reduce invasion of invasive alien species

Expected Outcome:

Proposals are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

• custom officers, border guards and relevant law enforcement officers and civil servants from competent authorities have improved capacities to detect illegal wildlife trade and prevent invasive alien species introduction, reintroduction and spread;

• illegal wildlife trade is better detected, contributing to improved protection of endangered species, and the spread of invasive alien species through trade is prevented and identified as early as possible, supporting the EU and global biodiversity objectives.

Scope:

Wildlife trafficking and invasive alien species pose major threats to biodiversity[1] and present important challenges regarding enforcement, prevention and detection capacities. Invasive alien species also cause significant negative economic impacts, estimated at around €12 billion per year in the EU, and wildlife trafficking is one of the most profitable criminal activities worldwide[2]. Moreover, they pose significant health hazards. The rate of introduction of invasive alien species has been increasing. Wildlife trafficking is also increasing, especially due to increase in online trade[3]. The development of innovative tools to identify wildlife species in international trade offers opportunities for multiple applications to better combat drivers of biodiversity loss, in particular the overexploitation of wildlife through trade and illicit trafficking and, in specific cases, the introduction and spread of invasive alien species. European law enforcement, customs and competent authorities, need improved capabilities that allow better and automatic monitoring and detection in online trade (e.g. e-commerce platform and marketplaces); and in physical trade, considering trade and logistic chains (e.g. ports, border crossings, postal and logistics hubs); interpreting data from multimodal signals; to support the detection of illegal wildlife trade and smuggling and invasive alien species in trade (intentionally or unintentionally introduced) while minimising disruption to the trade flow. This topic is expected to support the implementation of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 (target 12 on invasive alien species), the EU invasive alien species regulation[4], the EU wildlife trade regulations[5], the revised EU action plan against wildlife trafficking (2022-2027)[6], the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (target 4 on halting species extinction, protecting genetic diversity and managing human-wildlife conflicts; target, 5 on wild species; and 6 on invasive alien species).

Proposals should:

• develop tools/prototypes, using innovative solutions for the detection of invasive alien species in trade and illegal wildlife trade, prioritising technologies and methods deployable by law enforcement and competent authorities, in co-creation with the end-users taking into consideration cost-effectiveness and minimising barriers to adoption;

• ensure that technical solutions developed under this topic are interoperable with existing operational systems used by law enforcement and competent authorities;

• ensure that the solutions developed allow for the lawful collection, preservation, and admissibility of digital and physical evidence. Furthermore, solutions should specifically facilitate cross-border evidence collection in support of competent authorities, while maintaining the unbroken chain-of-custody and data governance compliance principles;

• demonstrate the developed solutions in relevant environment(s);

• ensure the scalability of the tools developed and develop long-term maintenance plans;

• develop the skills and competences of competent authorities, including law enforcement services, border guards, customs authorities and environment protection agencies, to use these tools (including for the lawful collection of crime evidence), for example by developing trainings and training materials;

• develop modern and effective societal awareness raising campaigns involving civil society non-governmental organisations and companies where relevant.

Proposals should involve, as beneficiaries, at least 3 relevant competent authorities representing law enforcement (like customs or border guards), nature conservation services or environmental protection services from at least 3 different EU Member States or Associated Countries.

This topic requires the effective contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.

Proposals may include PCP subcontracting activities as described in part H of the General Annexes of the work programme.

Funded projects are encouraged to liaise with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), for example with regards to a possibility of testing the relevant research outputs at the JRC Border Security Lab.

Technology Readiness Level - Technology readiness level expected from completed projects

Activities are expected to achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B. Activities may start at any TRL.

[1] IPBES, Summary for Policymakers of the Thematic Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, 2023. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7430692; IPBES, Summary for policymakers of the thematic assessment of the sustainable use of wild species of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), 2022, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7411847.

[2] UNODC, World Wildlife Crime Report 2024: Trafficking in Protected Species, 2024 https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/wildlife/2024/Wildlife2024_Final.pdf.

[3] Europol, European Union Serious and Organised Crime Threat Assessment – The changing DNA of serious and organised crime, Publication Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2025.

[4] Regulation - 1143/2014 - EN - EUR-Lex

[5] Wildlife trade - Environment - European Commission

[6] EUR-Lex - 52022DC0581 - EN - EUR-Lex