Combatting wildlife trafficking The Specific Objective of this action is to reduce the trafficking in wildlife and forest products globally, with a focus on serious and organized crimes aligned with gender and HRBA approach. It will thus contribute to (i) halting the extinction of threatened and endangered species of plants and animals, (ii) the preservation of healthy and functional ecosystems and (iii) the strengthening of the rule of law, aligned with international gender and human rights standards.It will support multi-agency cooperation and coordination at various levels for gathering and exchange of information along the supply chains, involving source, transit and destination countries, conducting investigations, and ensuring the prosecution of criminal networks. It will support the strengthening of national police, judicial and border control systems through an approach combining assistance to the handling of specific cases and targeted support to some strategic countries of Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America prone to illegal wildlife trade in a whole-of-a-system approach. It will also strengthen regional and inter-regional cooperation procedures and systems, including the monitoring of the illegal killing of elephants (MIKE) at the level of the African continent, which is used as an indicator of the level of poaching of this species and illegal trade of ivory. It will establish a rapid response mechanism to ensure that long term protection efforts are not put at risk by a sudden surge in poaching due to a shift of criminal activities, the effect of natural disasters or any other unexpected external factor.Implementation will rely on strengthening the partnership between the actors involved in fighting wildlife trafficking, including the International Consortium to Combat Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), civil society organizations, and EU Member States law enforcement agencies, strengthening the position of the EU as a centre of expertise and a global reference in the fight against organized crime, aligned with international gender and human rights standards. It will ensure synergy with other regional EU-funded interventions, such as EMPACT and El PAcCTO 2.0 programmes, and possible other national initiatives. It will provide a continuity to previous EU¿s actions against wildlife crime, including support to the International Consortium to Combat Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), the Monitoring of the Killing of Elephants and other Endangered species (MIKES) program and the Rapid Rescue Facility