Blog: Preserving wildlife today for a more sustainable tomorrow - Hoofdinhoud

EU adopts Wildlife Action Plan for 2016-2020

Wildlife conservation can sometimes be regarded as a “luxury" or a lesser problem in developing countries, compared to many other visible and urgent challenges. This is, however, a false assumption. Wildlife trafficking has devastating effects on livelihoods and local economies - especially in developing countries. Threats to biodiversity and the mismanagement of natural resources also endanger human lives, as they fuel corruption and undermine good governance.

The challenges are increasing. Trafficking of ivory and rhino horn is of particular concern. Organised crime and armed groups poaching elephants and rhinos have become a source of instability in large regions, notably at the fringes of Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Central African Republic. The number of elephants poached in Africa annually is in the range of 35 000 per year, out of a population of fewer than 500 000.

With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development we have formally committed to address all three dimensions of sustainable development - social, economic and environmental - not only for the benefit of people and our shared prosperity, but also for the long-term sustainability of our planet. Sustainable Development Goal 15 explicitly calls for urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity, address illegal wildlife trafficking and protect and prevent the extinction of threatened species.

The EU is already doing all it can to achieve this goal. In November, I presented the Commission's report "Larger than Elephants", providing a thorough analysis of the present challenges as a basis for an EU strategic approach to wildlife conservation in Africa.

Today, we have taken a very important step further, by adopting the EU's Wildlife Action Plan for 2016-2020, a far-reaching plan to address wildlife trafficking within the EU and beyond, targeting three priority areas:

Prevent trafficking and reduce supply and demand of illegal wildlife products

Enhance implementation of existing rules and combat organised crime more effectively

Strengthen cooperation between source, destination and transit countries.

The Action Plan contains 32 cross-cutting measures to improve enforcement activities against wildlife crime in the EU, to strengthen the global partnership against wildlife trafficking, and address the reasons behind it.

In parallel, we are also about to launch a new programme to strengthen law enforcement agencies to prevent, investigate and prosecute wildlife crimes and reduce the demand for illegal wildlife products in South East Asia.

This is one concrete example of the Commission's financial commitment to preserve natural resources and wildlife, while creating real benefits for the populations living in biodiversity hotspots. In Africa alone, around EUR 700 million has been committed already for 2014-2020 for activities related to wildlife conservation, combining a broad range of instruments.

Wildlife trafficking is a threat to people and planet. We must to anything in our power to stop it and today's action plan proves our determination to do so.