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<p>Prior to 2013, work on the illegal wildlife trade (IWT), in the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office (FCO) was handled by individual geographical departments and figures on staffing
are not available without disproportionate cost. In 2013 a dedicated illegal wildlife
trade team of three full-time staff, including one funded by the Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), was set up in the FCO. This team was responsible for
organising the London Conference on IWT in February 2014, working closely with Defra,
the lead government department. Following the London Conference, this team was reduced
to one full-time staff member. Since July 2014, in the run up to the Botswana Conference,
two staff members in the FCO have been working predominantly on IWT, supported by
a number of others working part-time.</p><p> </p><p>In the FCO’s overseas network,
several UK based and locally engaged staff work part time on IWT. It is not possible
to provide a breakdown without disproportionate cost. From January to March 2015,
there has been one UK based member of staff working full time on the IWT temporarily
seconded to support the government of Botswana.</p><p> </p>
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