Space for Giants partners' DP World have joined forces to stop the illegal wildlife trade.
From land to sea, Africa is home to incredible biodiversity. These functioning landscapes provide ecosystem services essential for human health and welfare, resilience to the climate crisis as powerful carbon sinks, and help sustain life on earth now and for future generations.
However, these areas are under extreme threat. The illegal wildlife trade is exacerbating existing pressures and contributing to the unprecedented rate of extinction of species and biodiversity loss and like nature, wildlife crime respects no borders and presents a significant and urgent risk to global societies.
The illegal wildlife trade, estimated at over $20 billion annually, undermines good governance and economic stability and exploits local communities. In recent years there has been a significant increase in recorded trafficking incidences, including large multi tonne shipments of pangolin scales and ivory, from countries in Africa which have fuelled demand in key consumer countries.
The covid pandemic has illustrated that transportation and logistics are not only the backbone of a modern economy but also a key enabler for trafficking wild animals and wildlife products. Parts and products from key demand species entering the illegal wildlife trade, move through source and transit countries reaching ports that facilitate their onward movement to key consumer countries. Transiting through ports such as those in Thailand and Dubai to feed the demand in consumer countries.
We have the ability to disrupt the trade by making these spaces where they operate more secure. Improving capacity across the trade chain, working collaboratively with governments, NGO’s and the private sector, to tackle the complex illegal wildlife trade that is thriving in certain illegal wildlife trade hotspots in Africa and around the world.
Video by The Shege
