PROTECTING OUR WILDLIFE It is a horrifying thought that just during my
lifetime – since the start of the 1970s – well over half of all mammals,
amphibians, reptiles and birds have disappeared from our planet.

Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

Habitats have been destroyed through climate change or deforestation, and
vulnerable species hunted to the point of extinction by poachers. Losses
like this can’t go on. We must tread more lightly on the planet, stop
hacking at the roots of the tree of life, and pass on to our children a
healthier, more bountiful, natural world. It’s a vital message, and thanks
to this ‘Protecting our Wildlife’ campaign, it’s one that many more people
will hear in coming months.
In the government’s 25 Year Environment Plan we set out our ambitions –
which will be reinforced in our forthcoming Environment Bill – to protect
and enhance our landscapes and seascapes, and the wildlife that relies upon
them for theirsurvival.

Illegal wildlife trade is worth up to £17bn a year

The plight of endangered species, and tackling the organised criminals who
prey upon them, are a particular priority. In vulnerable communities around
the world, poachers zero in on the rarest animals, trees and plants before
sending their illegal haul across continents to satisfy global demand.
This illegal wildlife trade is both abhorrent and lucrative – thought to be
worth up to £17bn a year – and we are in the forefront of international
efforts to tackle it. At the London Illegal Wildlife Trade conference in
October last year, supported byHRHthe Duke of Cambridge, we welcomed over 70
countries and more than 400 charity and conservation groups, and urged them
to commit to finding new ways to tackle this moral and environmental
scandal.

Cutting ivory trade by a third by 2020

For our part, when our domestic ivory ban comes into force later this year,
it will be one of the toughest in the world – ensuring a complete end to
commercial dealing in elephant ivory with only limited and carefully-defined
exemptions. We will use this ban, backed by legislation, as a platform to
lobby for further action to protect iconic species. The newly-created
international Ivory Alliance 2024, which I have the honour of chairing, aims
to cut the poaching of elephants for their ivory by one-third by 2020, and
two-thirds by 2024. Through the IWT Challenge Fund, meanwhile, the UK has
invested £18.5 million in over 60 projects.

Laos commits to total ban on ivory trade

The international community is also playing its part. News that Laos had
committed to a total ban on ivory was one of the highlights of the London
conference. We were also delighted by the announcement that the US will fund
projects to counter wildlife trafficking to the tune of over $90million in
the coming year.

British military taskforce to counter poaching

International co-operation is vital. Building on successful deployments in
Gabon and Malawi, the UK is putting £900,000 of new funding into developing
a British military counter-poaching taskforce. Its members will train
African park rangers in more effective and safer counter-poaching techniques
as they seek to disrupt those who would kill elephants – a magnificent
keystone species – simply for their ivory. Some 65 countries signed up to
the London declaration – an important symbol of international co-operation,
and of our determination to stamp out the illegal wildlife trade. For good.