Thirteen organisations seeking to end illegal trade in wildlife species have urged authorities in Vietnam to deliver on its commitments to combat illicit wildlife trade.
In a joint statement at the Hanoi Conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade, Fauna & Flora International (FFI), Animals Asia, Education for Nature Vietnam, Four Paws, Frankfurt Zoological Society, FREELAND, Free the Bears, GreenViet, TRAFFIC, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, WildAct, Wildlife Conservation Society, and WWF-Vietnam stressed their commitment to cooperating with each other and the Vietnamese government to address illegal hunting and trade in wild species.
They pledged to strengthen policy and law enforcement and implement behavior change for wildlife protection. The collective also urged the Vietnamese government to undertake several specific and strategic measures to strengthen its immediate response to this critical issue.
Credit: FFI.
The Vietnamese government is hosting the 17-18 November conference, the third in a series of global conferences on the topic. High-level representatives of more than 40 countries are attending, with the intention of adopting a Hanoi Declaration that would
include a road map for unified action against illegal wildlife trade.
The Duke of Cambridge and president of United for Wildlife, Prince William, who is also in Vietnam to support efforts to fight the illegal wildlife trade spoke at the conference.
He said endangered wildlife are being killed in “horrifying numbers” and called for stepped up efforts to stem the slaughter.
“China has already signaled a total ban, the USA has instituted one, and other nations, including the United Kingdom, are considering it,” said Prince William. “We know now what previous generations did not – ivory treated as a commodity is the fuel of extinction. Ivory is not something to be desired and when removed from an elephant it is not beautiful.”
“So, the question is: why are we still trading it? We need governments to send a clear signal that trading in ivory is abhorrent,” he added.
Duke of Cambridge Prince William
Credit: United for Wildlife
