DP World, Global Trade Partner of Expo 2020 Dubai, has launched and signed the Expo 2020 Dubai Wildlife Pledge to combat illegal wildlife trade (IWT).
The presentation of the DP World initiative took place during Expo’s Climate and Biodiversity Week at the end of an impactful session on ‘Conservation for Hope: Advancing Best Practice and Biodiversity Conservation’, held at the DP World Pavilion.
Every year, wild fauna and flora are illegally hunted, poached, and transported across the world, involving a complex, illegal supply chain and destroying biodiversity and local communities. The pledge marks a concerted global effort to halt wildlife trafficking from the UAE, as a hub between Africa, Asia, Europe and further afield, and from Expo 2020, the nexus of cross-border cooperation.
Abdulla bin Damithan, CEO and Managing Director, DP World, UAE Region and JAFZA, said: “It’s our responsibility to use our business assets and network for this cause. DP World, as partner of Expo 2020 and member of United for Wildlife, an organisation founded by HRH Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, has initiated the Expo 2020 Dubai Wildlife Pledge, centred on three main commitments to be delivered by the signatories before 2030.”
The three key commitments are: raising awareness of illegal trade as a global crime; mobilising public and private resources to combat IWT in all its forms along the entire supply chain; and sharing enforcement strategies and details of trafficking cases with United for Wildlife chapters.
As signatories, DP is committed to zero tolerance of transport of illegal wildlife parts across borders, working together and with other stakeholders to help eradicate IWT while also engaging with the private sector and government bodies to combat IWT.
Dominic Jermey, Director General of the Zoological Society of London, said: “Today’s conference was all about the importance of working together to restore nature and biodiversity, and DP World has been a fantastic partner to all of us – NGOs, businesses and government organisations. DP has facilitated this conference along with the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, and Government of Mozambique – an example of putting commitments into action.
“Every government and corporate delegation that comes to the DP World Pavilion will be asked to sign the pledge, to have a real impact at the global level. It’s significant that the conference took place in the very first week of Expo as part of the People and Planet Programme, and discussed how we can restore biodiversity, as Sustainability is one of the key subthemes at Expo 2020.”
