The Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System: From Silos to Synergy in Environmental Governance

In TheWildlife Enforcement Monitoring System, Remi Chandran chronicles a twenty-year journey to develop an innovative tool that enhances wildlife law enforcement information sharing through mapping technology. The book examines the intrinsic challenges of data sharing, which is shackled by conflicting regulations, ideologies, and institutional barriers. By exploring the changes in the wildlife-trade policy system and the evolving roles of key actors, Chandran reveals how these shifts transformed the Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System (WEMS). The novel WEMS initiative redefined data-exchange practices and shaped the way for platforms like the Digital Public Infrastructure to tackle humanature conflicts. More than a technical achievement, this is a story of collaboration, resilience, and shared knowledge.

Remi Chandran is an environmental governance specialist with over thirty years’ experience at the intersection of public policy, geospatial technology, and sustainability. As founder of the Wildlife Enforcement Monitoring System (WEMS) Initiative, he transformed enforcement information systems by introducing the academic community into a domain traditionally dominated by enforcement agencies--setting a global precedent for data transparency and collaborative governance. He currently serves as a Senior Expert at the Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan (RESTEC), advising on geospatial strategies for climate action, biodiversity conservation, forest monitoring, and digital public infrastructure. In addition, he acts as an Advisor to the Lusaka Agreement Task Force in Nairobi, the UN Maps Programme at the United Nations Global Service Centre (UNGSC) in Brindisi, Italy, and as a Visiting Researcher at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) in Japan. Remi holds a PhD in Public Policy and Environmental Governance from the University of Twente, Netherlands, and an MSc in Agriculture from University College Dublin, Ireland. His career reflects a longstanding commitment to bridging data, diplomacy, and design thinking, advancing systems-based approaches to contemporary environmental challenges. He is a recipient of the Irish Government Bilateral Fellowship (1995-1997), the European Union Erasmus Mundus Fellowship (2010), and the UNU-IAS PhD Fellowship (2012-2014).