United for Wildlife Taskforce Declaration

Global transport leaders have signed a historic declaration at Buckingham Palace in the fight against illegal wildlife trafficking routes. The declaration, a result of a year's work by United for Wildlife Taskforce, has been hailed by The Duke of Cambridge as "a game changer in the race against extinction".

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The United for Wildlife Taskforce brings high-level leaders from the transport industry together with representatives from across the world of conservation, along with organisations already engaged in initiatives designed to curb illegal trafficking.

Poachers and traffickers are bringing brutal violence into desperately poor parts of the world

The Duke of Cambridge

Speaking at the Declaration's signing, The Duke said "The poaching crisis is not just a tragedy because of the impact it is having on animals, but because of its effect on some of the most vulnerable people on our planet."

The Duke also visited DP World, one of the core participants in the taskforce and a signatory to the Buckingham Palace Declaration. At London Gateway, The Duke received a vivid demonstration of the scale of the task involved with keeping key transport infrastructure from being exploited by traffickers of illegal wildlife products.

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Today's Declaration will see each of the signatories agree to eleven commitments, each representing concrete steps for transport companies including:

• securing information sharing systems for the transport industry to receive credible information about high risk routes and methods of transportation
• Developing a secure system for passing information about suspected illegal wildlife trade from the transport sector to relevant customs and law enforcement authorities
• Notifying relevant law enforcement authorities of cargoes suspected of containing illegal wildlife and their products and, where able, refuse to accept or ship such cargoes