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UN / WORLD WILDLIFE DAY WRAP
STORY: UN / WORLD WILDLIFE DAY WRAP
TRT: 02:58
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 03 MARCH 2017, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
03 MARCH 2017, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, dais
3. Various shots, delegates
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations:
“Over the past four decades the plat has lost as much as 50 percent of its wild animals and plants - and in some areas even more - due to climate change, habitat loss, overexploitation, poaching, and trafficking. The illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products, including elephant ivory, high value timber, and marine species, is a threat not only to sustainable development, but to peace and security.”
5. Med shot, delegates
6. Wide shot, students display wildlife conservation banner
7. Wide shot, press conference
8. Med shot, journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) John E. Scanlon, Secretary-General, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES):
“Overall we are still in a situation where the African elephant population overall is in decline, albeit the situation across the African continent varies. For example, in East Africa we see a continual decline in the level of illegal killing. In 2016 we got to a point where we are back to the level of illegal killing we observed pre 2008. We are now in that sub-region below the threshold of illegal killing, putting the elephant population into decline. In southern Africa it seems to be rather stable. The problem we are experiencing continues to be, or the major problem, in in Central Africa and West Africa.”
10. Med shot, journalists
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Sheldon Jordan, Chair of the Wildlife Crime Working Group at Interpol:
“Wildlife and forestry crime is the fourth highest value crime area, surpassed only by illegal drugs, by counterfeiting, and by human trafficking. This type of crime destroys habitats and it is fertile soil for corruption. These criminals steal vital resources from communities around the world. They undermine economic development, they hurt food security, they disrupt our ecosystems, and they taint our clean water. These crimes also disproportionally impact indigenous peoples and vulnerable rural, isolated, developing communities.”
12. Med shot, photographer
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Jorge Rios, Chief of the Global Programme for Combating Wildlife and Forest Crime at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC):
“A lot of countries are recognizing that they need to do something about legislation, but there’s still a significant amount of countries that depend on conservation, or hunting, or management legislation to address organized crime, and that’s no way really to do this. And some legislation is good but is not being implemented, or some legislation simply requires some improvement. For example we found countries that have no provisions for the introduction of forensic technology, DNA, fingerprints; things that you would normally find it in cases simply aren’t being allowed to be introduced because it’s not in their law.”
14. Wide shot, press conference
Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed today (03 Mar) noted that over the past four decades, the planet has lost as much as 50 percent of its wild animals and plants due to climate change, habitat loss, over-exploitation, poaching and illicit trafficking.
At a General Assembly event marking World Wildlife Day, Mohammed said “the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products, including elephant ivory, high value timber, and marine species, is a threat not only to sustainable development, but to peace and security.”
With the fate of the world's wildlife soon to be in the hands of the next generation, the United Nations is observing this year's World Wildlife Day with a call to harness the power of young people's voices in conservation efforts.
At a later press conference, the Secretary-General of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), John E. Scanlon, said “overall we are still in a situation where the African elephant population overall is in decline, albeit the situation across the African continent varies.”
He noted that while in East Africa “we see a continual decline in the level of illegal killing” and in southern Africa “it seems to be rather stable,” the “major problem” continues to be in “Central Africa and West Africa.”
Sheldon Jordan, who is the Chair of the Wildlife Crime Working Group at Interpol, told reporters that “wildlife and forestry crime is the fourth highest value crime area, surpassed only by illegal drugs, by counterfeiting, and by human trafficking.”
Jordan said these criminals “undermine economic development, they hurt food security, they disrupt our ecosystems, and they taint our clean water.”
For his part, the Chief of the Global Programme for Combating Wildlife and Forest Crime at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Jorge Rios, said “a lot of countries are recognizing that they need to do something about legislation, but there’s still a significant amount of countries that depend on conservation, or hunting, or management legislation to address organized crime, and that’s no way really to do this.”
On 20 December 2013, the UN General Assembly decided to proclaim 3 March as World Wildlife Day – the day of the adoption of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1973, which plays an important role in ensuring that international trade does not threaten the species' survival.
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