The "National Security Plan 2022-2025" (Federal Police, 2022) aims to help police forces address security issues in a comprehensive and integrated manner and strengthen the coherence of their actions. It addresses 15 security issues, including the environment (waste crime and CITES).

As mentioned in operational objective 2.2, Belgium has several CITES enforcement authorities, including police officers, FASFC inspectors, FPS Environment inspectors and customs officers. The enforcement authorities monitor compliance with the provisions of CITES.

Belgium should ensure that biodiversity is included in priority areas related to security. Moreover, the different aspects of biodiversity should be included in legal information processing tools, such as FEEDIS (Feeding Information System) or the general national database.

As a result of the division of competences in Belgium, most offences related to biodiversity are registered by the regional authorities, while prosecution policy falls under the competence of the federal state. Therefore, cooperation and coordination at the national level between all relevant actors (including inspection services, administrations and customs services) should be strengthened to ensure consistent and compatible measures and methodologies. International information-sharing mechanisms should also be optimised (Interpol, Europol, etc.). The increased use of online platforms for illegal wildlife trade has led to new challenges in detection and investigation, creating an urgent need for effective and innovative solutions.

Finally, given the complex nature of the subject, specific training should be provided for those involved in the fight against biodiversity crime (police and control services, customs, prosecutors, inspectors, etc.). In this respect, the needs mainly relate to improving legal, technical and scientific knowledge.