Cebu, Philippines, 22 January 2013, Forty five senior government officials from Coral Triangle countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines agreed to combat trans-boundary illegal fishing activities using new comprehensive guidelines.

The guidelines, developed during a workshop held on January 22-24, 2013 in Cebu, Philippines, address undocumented live fish trading, turtle poaching, switching of flags by a single fishing vessel, territorial incursions, and use of dynamite in blast fishing, among other issues. The government officials agreed to establish a technical team that will steer the implementation of these guidelines over the next year.

Cebu, Philippines, 21 January 2013, 100 regional enforcement officers from 12 provincial and national agencies participated in a Forum on Wildlife and Fishery Intelligence and Investigation. The forum was organized by the Coastal Law Enforcement Alliance in Region 7 (CLEAR7), a regional task force of leading law enforcement agencies implementing coastal, fisheries and wildlife laws in central Philippines.

The task force's forum discussed multi-level collaboration mechanisms and best practices. The US Coral Triangle Initiative Support Program, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), US Coast Guard, and USAID-funded ARREST Program partners ASEAN-WEN and FREELAND Foundation provided specialized inputs in the development of CLEAR7's upcoming operational activities.

Bangkok, Thailand, December 4th, 2012 - Government officials, diplomats, private sector groups, NGOs and citizens from around Southeast Asia converged upon Bangkok's International Airport to announce and showcase a series of new public-private initiatives to phase out trafficking and consumption of endangered species.

The event was organized by FREELAND Foundation under the ARREST Program (Asia's Regional Response to Endangered Species Trafficking), in coordination with ASEAN, the Government of Thailand, Government of the USA, several international airline and hotel corporations, as well as a local organic food company.

Jakarta, Indonesia, Nov 13, 2012 - (ACN Newswire) — The Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia held a Conference on the 'Destruction of Preserved Wildlife' on November 12, 2012, at the Plaza Manggala Wanabakti in Jakarta. The event, which was attended by the Chief of the Indonesian National Police and the Minister of the Environment, was held to encourage laws on the eradication of the selling of protected animals, both alive and already dead.

Various operations and initiatives have been launched to enforce preservation laws, particularly Law No. 5-1990, which preserves biodiversity. Until now, 955 articles of evidence in violation of preservation laws have been gathered, which consist of 75 preserved wildlife or parts of their bodies, including 10 preserved Sumatran Tigers, 1 preserved young elephant, 5 preserved bear, 5 preserved leopards, 2 pieces of dried Sumatran tiger skin, 12 pieces of wet tiger skin, 28 tropical birds and others.