The Duke of Cambridge encouraged the international community to come together to end the illegal wildlife trade for good, in a virtual meeting of the United for Wildlife Taskforces and leading conservation organisations today.
Prince William, 38, admitted that 2020 had taken an unexpected ‘heart-breaking course’ as he took part in his first webinar, and revealed there was an independent review happening to look at why this happened and what can be done to stop it occurring in future.
The royal pointed to the increased focus on the public health risks of the wildlife trade and greater awareness of the dangers posed by zoonotic diseases as key reasons to act now.
In a video posted to the Kensington Royal Instagram account this evening, a clip showed William meeting with members of the organisation, as well as steps wildlife shots of their conservation work in Africa.
The Duke of Cambridge encouraged the international community to come together to end the illegal wildlife trade for good, in a virtual meeting of the United for Wildlife Taskforces and leading conservation organisations today (William seen during their meeting in January)
Prince William, 38, admitted that 2020 had taken an unexpected ‘heart-breaking course’ as he took part in his first webinar, and revealed there was an independent review happening to look at why this happened and what can be done to stop it occurring in future (seen in January)
The webinar brought together experts from around the world for a discussion on the urgent need to end the illegal wildlife trade, the impact of COVID-19 on conservation and the links between zoonotic diseases and the wildlife trade.
Speaking at the meeting, The Duke of Cambridge said: ‘Right now, there is a real chance to ensure that the urgent steps that the world must take to prevent future zoonotic disease pandemics are designed in a way that also helps to eradicate the illegal wildlife trade.
‘This will require concerted effort and teamwork from international organisations, governments, law enforcement, the NGO community and the private sector. United for Wildlife, and all of you as Taskforce members, have a crucial role to play.’
He added: ‘We celebrated the successes of the Taskforces – your successes – in making it far harder for traffickers to exploit the vulnerabilities of the global transport and financial systems to profit from this senseless crime.
In a video posted to the Kensington Royal Instagram account this evening, a clip showed William meeting with members of the organisation
An picture shown int he video showed William meeting with members of the team before Covid
In the video posted to the Kensington Royal account, stunning wildlife shots of their conservation work in Africa could be seen
‘We agreed on the need for concerted action in 2020, and throughout the coming decade, to double down on this progress and ensure that criminals no longer believe the illegal wildlife trade is worth the risk.
‘But 2020 has taken a different, heart-breaking course from what we had expected back in January.
‘The COVID-19 pandemic has ruined lives and threatened livelihoods across the world.
‘It is important that we learn the lessons from this pandemic, including looking at why the outbreak happened, why it was not stopped earlier, and what can be done to manage any outbreak in the future.
‘That’s why I’m pleased that Helen Clark and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf are leading an independent review to ensure that the right lessons are learned.’
The Duke of Cambridge, as President of United for Wildlife, makes a speech during the meeting of the United for Wildlife Taskforces at St James’s Palace, in January
Prince William also teased a new project called The Earthshot Prize, which he said will seek, amongst other things, to inspire and celebrate the transformational work required to protect nature and biodiversity.
The event was chaired by Lord Hague of Richmond, chair of the United for Wildlife Taskforces, and speakers included Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Dr. Zhi Lu of Peking University, Peter Knights, CEO of WildAid, and Dr. Peter Daszak from the EcoHealth Alliance.
Lord Hague, who chaired the event, said: ‘From all over the world the companies in our Taskforces have shown a strong commitment to combatting the Illegal Wildlife Trade. Now a much greater global effort is required, not only to halt this destructive trade, but to help prevent future pandemics.’
The Duke also acknowledged the devastating impact that COVID-19 has had on conservation, with tourism revenues dropping dramatically as a result of the pandemic, in turn impacting on the livelihoods of hundreds of rangers.
Scientists believe coronavirus may have originated in bats, and was then transmitted through another mammal such as a civet cat or an armadillo-like pangolin before being passed on to people at a fresh food market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
In an effort to block future outbreaks, China has cracked down on the trade in wildlife and closed some wet markets.
A World Health Organisation is planning a mission to investigate the origin of the Covid-19 illness.
William said the move towards the end of the illegal wildlife trade would require concerted effort from international organisations, governments, law enforcement, the NGO community and the private sector.
He also highlighted evidence of an increase in the illegal trafficking of wildlife products with The Uganda Wildlife Authority recording 367 poaching incidents in the parks between February and May this year, more than double that of the same period in 2019.
Spearheaded by The Royal Foundation, United for Wildlife has been working to combat the illegal trade in animal products around the world by bringing together conservation organisations, law enforcement, governments and global corporations since 2014.
United for Wildlife’s Transport and Financial Taskforces were formed in 2014 and 2018 respectively to develop targeted solutions and a multi-sector approach to ending global wildlife trafficking.
Since their formation, the Taskforces have grown from 12 private sector companies to over 170, and have supported over 100 law investigations, contributing to 24 trafficker arrests, trained more than 70,000 industry employees in counter-IWT practices, and have established six regional hubs of counter-IWT expertise in East Africa, Southern Africa, Europe, Hong Kong and China.
DP World, a world leader in global supply chain solutions, were one of the original signatories of the Buckingham Palace Declaration and became the United for Wildlife Taskforces Principle Partner earlier this year.