The European Parliament voted by 579 votes to 15, with 20 abstentions, on Thursday 2 March to approve a raft of recommendations drafted by Emma McClarkin (ECR, UK) to make better use the EU’s trade tools to fight wildlife trafficking. It recommends a total ban on the ivory trade both within and outside the EU.
The illegal trade in plants and animals is fuelling a global ecological crisis, and the EU and the United States remain key markets and transit routes, MEPs argue, calling for the EU to make better use of its own legal framework to protect biodiversity.
Parliament recommends providing more help to third country customs authorities with capacity building, training and information and making sufficient resources available for combatting trafficking in the EU.
It says private sector involvement must be ensured, including the engagement of online market places, express delivery services and social media and remedying vulnerabilities in transportation and customs procedures.
Parliament says the EU’s common commercial policy should be used to promote binding corporate social responsibility standards and calls for anti-corruption provisions to be included in all EU future free-trade agreements.
It recommends using the EU-Vietnam free-trade agreement, which includes a detailed trade and sustainable development chapter, as an example for future trade agreements.
Parliament also recommends exploring how global trade and environmental regimes, such as the World Trade Organisation and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, can better support each other.
“Illegal trade in wildlife is a crime with complex roots and wide dimensions that threatens our ecosystems, and good governance. We must do all we can to tackle this illegal activity and to ensure that future generations will not be deprived of the beauty and diversity of our environment”, said McClarkin, arguing for a comprehensive approach that tackles supply-side issues and demand in domestic markets and other destination countries.
Wildlife trafficking is the second most serious threat to global flora and fauna after habitat destruction and the fourth most profitable area of criminal activity globally, with an estimated annual turnover of €20 billion, which also helps to fuel conflicts and the financing of terrorist networks. Online wildlife crime poses a growing threat to elephants, rhinos, amphibians, reptiles and birds, says Parliament which is reflecting on the Commission’s action plan against wildlife trafficking and its new comprehensive trade strategy. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)