The Buckingham Palace Declaration
UNITED FOR WILDLIFE TRANSPORT TASKFORCE
15 March 2016 :: 2 pages pdf
PREAMBLE
We, signatories to the United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce Buckingham Palace Declaration and the members of the United for Wildlife International Taskforce on the transportation of illegal wildlife products1, recognising the devastating impact of illegal wildlife trade, agree to the Commitments set out below, as they apply to our industry or organisation.
We, as signatories to the Declaration, will not knowingly facilitate or tolerate the carriage of wildlife products, where trade in those products is contrary to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wildlife Fauna and Flora (CITES)2, and as such is illegal under international and national laws.
We agree to implement the Commitments relating to our own industry sector or organisational mandate, as part of our intention to tackle this issue and bring an end to illegal wildlife trade3.
We agree to evaluate the impact of the Commitments regularly, to assess what has worked and identify and address any challenges.
We ask the entire transport industry to follow our lead and help bring an end to the illegal trade in wildlife by signing this Declaration and supporting implementation of the Commitments.
COMMITMENTS
EXPRESSION AND DEMONSTRATION OF AGREEMENT TO TACKLE THE ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE
1. Adopt or encourage the adoption of a zero tolerance policy regarding illegal wildlife trade.
2. Increase passenger, customer, client, and staff awareness about the nature, scale, and consequences of illegal wildlife trade.
3. Promote the Declaration and its Commitments across the entire transport sector and encourage all in the sector to sign up to the Declaration.
INFORMATION SHARING AND DETECTION
4. Develop mechanisms to enable the transport sector to receive timely information about the transport of suspected illegal wildlife and their products, including methods of transportation, key routes, ports and other locations.
5. Enhance data systems, including due diligence and risk assessment, to allow the transport sector and/or enforcement agencies to screen data and/or cargo, to identify potential shipments of suspected illegal wildlife and their products.
6. Identify and promote systems for staff and the public to report suspicions in relation to the transportation of illegal wildlife and their products.
7. Improve the training of staff within the transport sector to enable them to detect, identify and report suspected illegal wildlife trade, and acknowledge staff who champion this cause.
PRACTICAL MEASURES TO STOP THE TRANSPORTATION OF ILLEGAL WILDLIFE PRODUCTS
8. Develop a secure, harmonised system for passing information about suspected illegal wildlife trade from the transport sector to relevant customs and law enforcement authorities, where permitted by law.
9. Notify relevant law enforcement authorities of cargoes suspected of containing illegal wildlife and their products and, where able, refuse to accept or ship such cargoes.
10. Establish a cross-disciplinary team working with local customs and law enforcement authorities to develop a system of best practice for combatting illegal wildlife trade in key ports.
NEW MECHANISMS TACKLING ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRADE
11. Support the development of mechanisms by the World Customs Organization and national customs authorities
[Some 30 organizations, agencies and corporations from across the transport sector have signed the Declaration; no summary list of signatories was discovered in web searches]
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UNDP Press Release
Global transport leaders sign historic declaration at Buckingham Palace in fight to shut down Illegal wildlife trafficking routes
Mar 15, 2016
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is proud to be a signatory to an historic declaration at Buckingham Palace committing leaders of the transportation industry globally to taking major steps to fight illicit wildlife trafficking, a move hailed by HRH The Duke of Cambridge as “a game changer in the race against extinction.”
The Buckingham Palace Declaration commits signatories to 11 commitments that will raise standards across the transportation industry to prevent traffickers of wildlife products from exploiting weaknesses as they seek to covertly move their products from killing fields to marketplaces. The commitments focus on information sharing, staff training, technological improvements, and resource sharing across companies and organisations worldwide.
The commitments will also see the world’s leading transportation firms assisting those in poorer nations who are in need of expertise and new systems.
Magdy Martínez-Solimán, UNDP Assistant Administrator and Director of Bureau for Policy and Programme Support stated, “The declaration is a landmark achievement for UNDP because the recent escalation in the illegal wildlife trade not only threatens biodiversity but has the potential to undo hard-won development gains. Illegal wildlife trade undermines national and regional security, democratic governance, prospects for sustainable development and threatens livelihoods.”
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