The Secretariat of the International Alliance against Health Risks in Wildlife Trade announced its official handover from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH to the World Organisation of Animal Health (WOAH). The handover marks an important new chapter of the Alliance: After its initiation by the German government (German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)) in 2021 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Alliance enters a new phase of international consolidation.
Considering the international nature of the Alliance as an inclusive and interdisciplinary multi-stakeholder platform, the network will highly benefit from the new Secretariat team hosted by the Department of Preparedness and Resilience at WOAH, led by Dr. Alexandre Fediaevsky. While Dr. Fediaevsky flags that “WOAH will assume the Secretariat role, but not take over the Alliance itself, the governance of the Alliance will remain the same: Member-driven! The Alliance belongs first and foremost to its members”, he adds that WOAH hopes that the “Alliance will also benefit from WOAH’s regional presence to strengthen its capacity for regional networking and local adaptation to countries specific needs, supported by stakeholder mapping and connection with relevant organisations.”
The official handover was announced during the WOAH General Assembly in Paris, France, in May 2025. The session titled ‘One Health in Action: Rethinking Wildlife Trade for a Healthier, Sustainable Future’ brought together many experts around wildlife trade and health risks, from Cindy Chimal, Environmental Security at INTERPOL, and Ivonne Higuero, the Secretary-General of the CITES Secretariat, to Eugenio Sartoretto from the Sustainable Wildlife Management Program (SWM) of the FAO. After a lively panel discussion, BMZ representative and Head of the division Pandemic Prevention, One Health Mr. Seiche, WOAH’s Director General Dr. Soubeyran, Dr. Fediaevsky and Head of the GIZ Secretariat Dr. Nagel joined the stage to ceremoniously hand over the Secretariat function to the WOAH colleagues, symbolically supported by the presentation of the latest Alliance report ‘Translating knowledge into Action’. The report portrays the work of the Alliance since its initiation and may act as guidance to the WOAH team in the years to come.
It is crucial to continue efforts for primary prevention through a One Health approach and identify, analyse, and implement lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. Safeguarding the health of wildlife, ecosystems, and animals will inevitably protect human health. Especially wildlife health remains an issue that is often overlooked and mismanaged. The Alliance offers an important platform to join forces, drive innovative change and support all three pillars of One Health – from animal/wildlife health and human health to environmental health – for a holistic vision of future interspecies and intergenerational wellbeing.
Read more about WOAH’s vision for the future of the Alliance here, where the GIZ Secretariat interviewed Dr. Fediaevsky.
Photo: (from left to rigth) Matthias Seiche (BMZ), Dr. Emmanuelle Soubeyran (WOAH), Dr. Michael Nagel (GIZ), Dr. Alexandre Fediaevsky (WOAH) | © WOAH