The trophy hunting trade is regulated — but not banned — at both the global and EU levels, but national laws vary. As the country with some of the highest levels of public opposition to the practice and home of the European Commission, bringing an end to imports in Belgium would create the opportunity to pursue broader change.

After building cross-party political will with Belgian MPs first, we arranged meetings with influential MEPs, the European Commission, and Permanent Representations (Member State government representation in Brussels), striving to raise awareness of the difficulties that member states run into if they want to take stricter measures against trophy hunting. To create a blueprint for the policy itself, we engaged the former Secretary of State in the Netherlands who established an import ban there to advise us on a similar resolution in Belgium.