Peer Learning for Conservation Success: Global Wildlife Program ‘Twinning’ Initiative Strengthens Collaboration Across Borders

Wildlife does not recognize national borders-and neither do the threats they face. To conserve habitats, combat wildlife crime, and protect life and landscapes in ways that engage and benefit local communities, it is essential for teams to work together across transboundary landscapes and international wildlife trafficking chains.

The Global Wildlife Program (GWP) recently concluded the inaugural phase of its twinning initiative. The peer-learning exercise paired projects from six countries in three bilateral in-person exchanges to strengthen international collaboration on wildlife conservation.

Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and led by the World Bank, the GWP brings together 38 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean in one of the largest global wildlife conservation partnerships.

Read how GWP projects in Bhutan, Chad, Colombia, Panama, South Africa, and Uganda shared knowledge, experiences, and solutions to amplify the GWP's collective impact in protecting flagship species and strengthening local livelihoods.

Protecting Jaguars: Colombia and Panama

Members of the GWP Colombia and Panama projects during their twinning exchange. Photo: GWP

Colombia and Panama are both jaguar range states that need to work together to protect and connect remaining jaguar landscapes. Human activities like deforestation, trafficking of jaguar parts, and human-wildlife conflict threaten these emblematic big cats. The GWP project in Panama hosted GWP Colombia in April 2025 to discuss community engagement in jaguar conservation as a pathway to strengthening cross-border collaboration and mitigating human-jaguar conflict.

Representatives from Colombia's Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, community leaders, and UNDP met with members of Panama's Ministry of Environment and the Yaguará Panama Foundation. They discussed lessons learned, best practices, and strategies for jaguar conservation and monitoring, ecological and biocultural connectivity, and more, with a particular focus on the importance of community governance and involving Indigenous Peoples, local communities, women, and youth.

"Just as the jaguar has no borders, we too should not place barriers on our collaboration." - William Espinosa, Leader, Jaguar Corridor Initiative - Guaviare (Colombia)

The projects agreed to a proposed binational cooperation agreement in which the two countries will consolidate their efforts to conserve jaguars and create a regional network of Indigenous and rural community members to lead jaguar conservation efforts in their territories. With the recent adoption of the first Regional Action Plan for Jaguar Conservation, Colombia and Panama are well-positioned to contribute to the plan's implementation.

Combating Rhino Poaching and Other Wildlife Crimes: Chad and South Africa

Members of the GWP Chad and South Africa projects during their visit to the Dinokeng Game Reserve. Photo: GWP

Chad and South Africa's wildlife are threatened by illegal wildlife trade, with both countries targeted by organized criminal networks and cross-border poaching incursions. Wildlife trafficking jeopardizes species survival and exacerbates underlying issues, including weak governance. Members of the GWP project in Chad traveled to visit GWP South Africa in February 2025 to discuss both projects' experiences combating wildlife crime.

Representatives from Chad's Ministry of Environment, Fisheries and Sustainable Development and South Africa's Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment shared insights into their approaches to managing environmental offenses. Discussions covered institutional structures and mandates for dispute resolution, relevant legal frameworks, and practical strategies for addressing challenges such as poaching and human-wildlife conflict around protected areas.

By learning more about South Africa's legal and policy framework to prevent and combat wildlife crime, the GWP Chad team identified measures that Chad could adopt to strengthen its own framework. In South Africa, the National Integrated Strategy to Combat Wildlife Trafficking, which recognizes wildlife crime as a serious organized crime, outlines the importance of consolidating investigations, improving intelligence gathering, and enhancing provincial, national, and international cooperation to combat wildlife crime. This strategy is underpinned by the enforcement of several provincial and national laws protecting natural resources, as well as the targeted use of organized crime laws on corruption, fraud, and money laundering to prosecute serious offenses.

Conserving Habitats While Supporting Nature-based Tourism: Bhutan and Uganda

Delegates from Bhutan receiving a presentation from the Uganda Wildlife Authority. Photo: GWP

Bhutan's tourism sector is heavily based on cultural heritage and the country is seeking to further develop its nature-based tourism products. Nature-based tourism helps finance protected area systems and can support biodiversity conservation, poverty alleviation, and economic growth. The GWP project in Bhutan visited Uganda in April 2025 to learn about the government's success developing ecotourism while conserving habitats and managing human-wildlife conflict.

The visit showcased how the Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities have partnered to advance sustainable tourism initiatives. Through a revenue-sharing mechanism with local communities, national parks have supported the development of community-managed tourism enterprises and delivered economic benefits to local communities. These efforts have helped promote locally led tourism while contributing to the protection of critical habitats for chimpanzees and gorillas. The trip included meetings with tourism and wildlife authorities and trips to Queen Elizabeth and Bwindi Impenetrable National Parks.

"Uganda presented an excellent opportunity to learn from another country with a mature ecotourism sector. By spending this focused time with them, our team was able to take back a number of new ideas that we can directly apply to our work." - Damcho Rinzin, Director, Bhutan Department of Tourism

GWP Bhutan is using what it learned about Uganda's conservation history, tourism and business development, and partnerships with local communities-including women and elders-to expand the country's tourism offerings to nature-based tourism activities like fly fishing and bird watching.