Global initiative against wildlife trafficking gathers support

40 organisations, including the world’s largest shipping and airline companies, port operators and transport groups, are to back an initiative against wildlife trafficking led by Prince William and supported by large conservation groups including Conservation International and WWF. The initiative from the United for Wildlife taskforce will make it easier to share information about traffickers and will work with customs and enforcement authorities to close trafficking routes. The illegal trade is worth $19bn (£13bn) a year and has brought many species close to extinction. Companies and trade bodies will pledge to support 11 principles which effectively declare a “zero tolerance” policy towards the trade. Signatories will include the world’s largest shipping company, Maersk, port operator DP World, which owns 70% of the world’s largest ports, DHL and Emirates Airlines.

The world’s largest shipping and airline companies, port operators and transport groups will commit on Tuesday to trying to shut down the main international wildlife trafficking routes.



The initiative, to be signed by 40 organisations, is led by Prince William and backed by the world’s largest conservation groups including Conservation International and WWF.

By sharing information on suspected traffickers, working with customs and enforcement authorities, training cargo staff on what to look out for and refusing to ship suspect cargos, they hope to strangle the $19bn (£13bn) a year illegal wildlife trade which has brought populations of many endangered species including tigers and elephants to the brink of extinction.

Prince William says tangible results must be achieved in five to 10 years or else it will be too late. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The initiative from the United for Wildlife taskforce, which is chaired by Prince William, follows a 2015 report from the wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic. This showed that even though national law enforcement was improving and illegal shipments were being seized, loopholes and shifting trade patterns meant that the volume of the multi-billion dollar trade has not diminished.

The Buckingham Palace declaration, to be signed today, will see companies and trade bodies sign up to 11 principles amounting to what is being called a “zero tolerance” policy towards the trade.

They include Maersk, the world’s biggest shipping company, Abu Dhabi-based port operator DP World which owns 70 of the world’s largest maritime ports, Emirates Airlines, DHL, cruise liners, international custom groups and international trade bodies.

Prince William has become a leading advocate against poaching and the illegal wildlife trade, having briefed Obama, Chinese premier Xi Jinping, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim and other world leaders in the past 18 months. A Kensington palace spokesman said that the prince’s attempt to stop the massacre of wildlife is an important test for his generation’s ability to solve future complex global challenges.

“Criminals are able to exploit weak and corrupt standards, so we must raise those standards, collectively. Cooperation is our greatest weapon against the poachers and traffickers who rely on evading individual national initiatives. By taking a truly international approach, we can get one step ahead of them,”the prince told a World Bank meeting last year.



Today the prince said humanity had 10 years to save animals such as the rhino: “In the next 5-10 years if there’s not a massive change, a dramatic change in the way we appreciate and protect these iconic species in Africa there won’t be these incredible animals there, which not only is obviously sad for future generations but I think it would be incredibly devastating for humanity itself when we have sat back and we have lost something we have been responsible for.”

He told ITV: “If we haven’t achieved something in the next 5-10 years then it will be almost impossible to do anything after that. Because the numbers will be so depleted the damage will be done so badly and clearly the demand won’t have been halted.” Figures published last week showed a record number of African rhino were killed in 2015.

Prince Harry, an ambassador for United for Wildlife, looks at the carcass of a rhino killed by poachers in Kruger national park, South Africa, in December 2015. Photograph: Paul Edwards/Pool/Getty Images

The chances of closing the trade depend on cutting off supply routes but also also stopping poaching and the sale of wildlife parts. Research shows there is a relative concentration of transit points along the supply chain from Africa to Asian consumer markets.



The bulk of the trade may involve as few as 100-200 shipping containers a year, 10 “chokepoint” transhipment ports, and three airports. If the transport industry can identify those transit points, enforce regulation and cooperate with the private sector then they could begin to clamp down on illegal wildlife trafficking.



Wildlife groups said the initiative gives some hope to stopping poaching. “There are today over 1.1bn international tourist arrivals a year; 100,000 flights every day; and 500m containers shipped a year. The Duke’s transport task force has filled a gap in the global efforts to stop illicit wildlife trafficking,” said John E Scanlon, secretary general of Cites, the wildlife trade treaty.

Glyn Davies, WWF conservation director said: “This is really valuable and practical because it is the leaders of very big companies who are acting. Passengers will be told what to avoid, cargo staff are being trained what to look out for. People know about the transport of drugs and firearms, but now it will be wildlife, too.”

Former foreign secreatary Lord Hague, who chairs the United for Wildlife taskforce and hosted a major wildlife summit in London in 2014, said: “This is more than just an environmental issue. The illegal wildlife trade is now recognised as a serious and organised transnational crime. It drives corruption, is linked to money laundering and can damage economic development in many of the world’s poorest countries and communities.”

Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, said: “Many animals, in particular African elephants, rhinos, tigers, and pangolins, are under extreme pressure because of an unprecedented spike in the illegal wildlife trade.”

