UK Boosts Anti-Wildlife Trafficking Funding

With this week marking 100 days to go until the 2018 London Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference, the British government announced on Monday ambitious new plans and funding for tackling the illegal wildlife trade across the world.

The secretaries of state for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), and Department for International Development (DFID) announced a £44.5 million boost for anti-wildlife trafficking projects around the world, the UK government’s official website reported.

The foreign secretary set out the government’s ambition to reduce the illegal killing of African elephants for ivory by at least one third by 2020, and to further halve this rate by 2024. Achieving this will be another significant step to safeguard endangered species from extinction, in a decade of action since the 2014 London Declaration committed to fight the illegal wildlife trade.

The UK has already set itself as a global leader on this issue, with a domestic ivory ban announced in April 2018.

Defra has announced £4.5 million for 14 new Challenge Fund projects to combat the illegal wildlife trade by addressing demand reduction, strengthening enforcement and criminal justice, and providing alternative livelihoods.

DFID and Defra have also helped secure an increase of up to £40 million in international efforts to protect global nature including helping to end the wildlife trade over the next four years. This is through a 30% increase to the Global Environment Facility’s Global Wildlife Program—the largest single program dedicated to combat poaching, trafficking, and demand for wildlife and wildlife products.

It will see more funding than ever before being spent on projects fighting the illegal wildlife trade across Africa and Asia, including tackling corruption, strengthening border law enforcement and promoting the development of nature-based tourism. It is through these long-term solutions that this trade can be ended permanently.