Brussels, 29/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - The initial response from the European Parliament and the WWF was positive towards the action plan proposed by the European Commission on Friday 26 February to help the EU more effectively combat the criminal and profitable trafficking of wild species that are threatened with extinction (see EUROPE 11500).
They are now calling on the Council to show its political will now that this strategic action plan is going to be presented to the European ministers responsible for this domain, which will also be the subject of the EU Environment Council's conclusions on 20 June.
Geneviève Pons, the director of the World Wildlife for Nature's (WWF) European office, stated: “Whilst we applaud the European Commission's strong commitment to stop illegal trafficking, the onus is now on the Member States to make this happen. They must live up to their responsibilities to police wildlife trade and enforce meaningful sanctions to punish criminals”. She also pointed out that “Wildlife crime is not just a threat to numerous species, it also undermines the rule of law, good governance, the well-being of local communities, and sustainable development”.
The WWF is, above all, calling for “sufficient political will and adequate financial resources in order to address the gravity of the problem” and is counting on EU member states to provide this action plan with some sort of structure. It consists of three areas: prevention through supported reduction in demand inside and outside the EU; enhanced implementation of existing legislation, particularly through cooperation between the different agencies responsible; the setting up of an international partnership against this trafficking, by using diplomacy and cooperation, in keeping with WWF expectations formulated before its adoption. The NGO also announced that it would now be analysing this plan earlier and formulating recommendations to the Council and Parliament. In 2014, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the subject and will now be preparing an own initiative report on the action plan. Gerben Jan Gerbrandy MEP (ALDE, Netherlands) is behind the EP resolution and is satisfied. He was delighted to announce that the Commission had included, “almost all the measures” he proposed in 2013 and that it had “covered almost all the relevant aspects”, particularly criminal sanctions of at least four years prison sentences for criminals. Catherine Bearder (ALDE, United Kingdom), her colleague who led the campaign to obtain this result, was over the moon and described it as an enormous step forward. She also explained that only a coordinated approach that tackled the source of the problem, poaching, would be capable of tackling this crime.
The Born Free Foundation drafted a report published in April 2015, “End Wildlife Trafficking” which contained recommendations in favour of the EU action plan and it was also delighted with the result. In a press release, it pointed out that 2,500 wild species and bi-products from these species had been seized and registered every year in the EU and that “these seizures represent only a tiny fraction of the illegal trade, which has an estimated global value in excess of €17 bn per year”. Born Free is calling on EU citizens to support the 0003/2016 written declaration submitted by Neena Gill MEP (S&D, United Kingdom), which calls on the Commission and the 28 member states to tighten up the rules on importing trophies of wild species into the EU. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)