Centre for Professional Development and Lifelong Learning

Health, Safety and Biosecurity

Barbados and the OECS face a health care environment that is becoming increasingly complex and costly to maintain.  The challenges presented by the health care environment demand that medical personnel engage in continuous learning, and that average citizens play a greater role in personal and familial and community health management.  As a response to societal needs and concerns, the Centre for Professional Development and Lifelong Learning at the Cave Hill Campus offers a suite of continuing education and professional development courses to doctors, nurses and therapists, while offering beginners’ courses in the management of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension to the general public. The Centre also offers courses in health and safety, and sustainable building concepts for the building sector, as well as courses in Biosecurity and its relevance in the Caribbean context.

Health

[Biosecurity] Living A Wild Life Part 1: Illicit Wildlife Trade, Money Laundering and Border Security

[Biosecurity] Living A Wild Life Part 1: Illicit Wildlife Trade, Money Laundering and Border Security

Overview

The short course will seek to develop critical competencies in the scientific and practical understanding of biosecurity implications associated with wildlife hunting, wildlife trade and consumption and zoonotic disease transmission in financial sector, legal, animal health, environmental management and border security professionals.  These competencies will range from understanding the basic terminology, the critical nature of these human activities, the negative impacts on the economy, trade, financial sector, agriculture, tourism and border security, and the potential methods to mitigate against these impacts.
 

What will I Learn?

On successful completion of the course, participants will be able to:

  • Use the terminology of wildlife trade and the movement of these exotic commodities.
  • Discuss the regional and global context of wildlife trade and movement of these exotic commodities.
  • Assess the financial, legal, trade, economic and border security ramifications of these wildlife associated activities.
  • Outline the different steps within the wildlife crime process chain including harvesting, storage, marketing, distribution (especially if shipped internationally), financing activities as well as collection of proceeds of the crime and laundering of the money.
  • Examine existing risks and red flags along with regional and global case studies.
  • Discuss the global and regional legislation associated with wildlife trade, and the importance of evidence chain.
  • Identify potential mitigation strategies to combat threats associated with wildlife trade in the Caribbean and worldwide.

Who Should do this Course

  • Border Security Professionals (Police Officers, Customs Officers, Immigration Officers, Coast Guard)
  • Financial Sector Professionals (banks, credit unions, asset managers, insurance, securities broker-dealers, credit card issuers, alternate payment systems)
  • Logistics & Trade Professionals
  • Legal Professionals
  • Public Health Professionals
  • IT & Data Management Professionals
  • Wildlife, Forestry and Environment Management Professionals
  • Disaster Management Professionals

Important Information

The goals of this short course/workshop are to:

  1. Foster participants’ understanding of the border security and financial crime threats posed by wildlife trade in the Caribbean and worldwide.
  2. Facilitate participants’ practical exploration of mitigation strategies to minimize the impacts of these activities in their day-to-day professional job execution.

At a Glance

  • Admissions Term: 2021/2022 Semester II
  • Registration: Open
  • Date: 29th March, 31st March, 5th, 7th and 12th April 2022
  • Time:
  • Duration: 3 weeks (15 hours)
  • Certificate Awarded: Professional Development Certificate of Competence
  • Course Code: PDLL185
  • Capacity: 25
  • Cost: BDS$1500.00 / US$750.00

The following topics/concepts/theories/issues will be addressed:

  • Overview of Biosecurity, Wildlife, Border Security and Financial Crimes
  • Financial, Economic, Health, Trade and Border Security Implications of Wildlife Trade
  • Identifying Financial, Economic, Health and Border Security Vulnerabilities
  • Regional Mitigation Strategies against Economic, Financial, Legal and Border Security Risks
  • Global and Regional Legislation Associated with Wildlife Trade and Judiciary Processes Involved to Combat Wildlife Crime

 
 

Participants do not need any formal undergraduate and postgraduate educational requirements.  However, participants should be currently operating in the relevant sectors such as border security and financial, logistics and trade sectors including port health, customs, police, immigration, logistics management, legal, international trade, banks, credit unions, insurance, or as asset managers, securities broker-dealers, credit card issuers and alternate payment systems professionals. 
 

This course will adopt a Hybrid Flexible approach which includes interactive lectures, online classroom discussions, and cooperative group work.
 

Dr. Kirk Douglas is Director of the Centre for Biosecurity Studies at the University of the West Indies. He has specialised training in conducting research in Caribbean wildlife (rodents and migratory birds), virology, risk assessment, zoonotic disease transmission risk analysis and has over 100 citations from peer reviewed journal articles on biosecurity, public health, infectious diseases, viral haemorrhagic fevers and vector-borne diseases.