Harrison Ford Speaks for Wildlife
The Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking Gets Heard through PSAs
Jun 11, 2008
The Coalition Against Wildlife Trafficking (CAWT), on June 5, 2008 had a global launch of Harrison Ford's TV public service announcements at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The event was in honor of World Environment Day where Harrison Ford lent his global celebrity influence to the cause to end the illegal trade of wildlife throughout the world.
Participants of the event included senior representatives of partners in the CAWT, which includes the governments of Australia, Canada, Chile, India and the United Kingdom, and 13 other conservation-based non-governmental organizations.
Wildlife trafficking is the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products. It is a soaring black market worth $10 billion a year.
In 2005, the CAWT was created as a unique voluntary public-private coalition of likeminded governments and organizations that share the common purpose of protecting wildlife. The aim of the CAWT is to focus public and political attention and resources on stopping the illegal trade of wildlife.
The coalition is using its powers and influence to combine the strengths of governments and nongovernmental partners to improve wildlife law enforcement, reduce consumer demand for illegally traded wildlife and catalyze high-level political will to fight wildlife trafficking.
In a press release, the CAWT said that they plan to achieve their three goals by expanding enforcement training and information sharing and strengthening regional cooperative networks.
They then plan to reduce consumer demand by raising awareness of the impacts of illegal wildlife trade on biodiversity and the environment, and are sparking high-level political will to fight wildlife trafficking by broadening support at the highest political levels for actions to combat the illegal trade of wildlife.
The United States government with the CAWT will participate in the global initiative by having its embassies all around the world show the three public service announcements featuring Ford.
Behind human and narcotics trafficking, wildlife trafficking is the third largest black market product in the world, and also has the same culprits and smuggling routes as trafficking arms, drugs and persons.
Wildlife preservation is of top priority concern because an unchecked demand for exotic pets, rare foods, trophies and traditional medicines is driving many species to the brink of extinction. This threat is proving to be a hindrance to meet the 2010 target to reduce global biodiversity loss.
The trade is also linked to contributing to the spread of human’s virulent wildlife diseases, such as SARS, avian influenza (Bird Flu) and the Ebola virus.
Also attending the meeting was Special Envoy of the Secretary of State for Wildlife Trafficking Issues, former actress Bo Derek, and assistant Secretary for Oceans, Environment and Science Claudia A. McMurray.
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