“When I was born”, he said, “there were one million elephants roaming Africa. By the time my daughter Charlotte was born last year, the numbers of savannah elephants had crashed to just 350,000. And at the current pace of illegal poaching, when Charlotte turns 25 the African elephant will be gone from the wild.”
The Prince, who is Royal Patron of Tusk, and has long campaigned to highlight the catastrophic consequences of the daily slaughter of iconic species added “This crisis is not just about animals – this crisis is about people. It is some of the world’s poorest peoples who will suffer when their natural resources are stripped from them illegally and brutally.”
When two rangers are killed every week fighting the war against poachers and the numbers of elephant killed for their tusk increases, it is time said Prince William “…. to say that ivory is a symbol of destruction, not of luxury and not something that anyone needs to sell or trade. Indeed I would challenge anyone, who knows the truth of how these wildlife products are obtained to justify desiring them.”
Tusk CEO Charlie Mayhew, who is outspoken in his support of an outright ban on the trade in ivory, recognises that progress has been made since the last CITES conference, but says that there is much still to be done. Whilst he welcomes the latest announcement from Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom on a tightening of existing rules on the sale of ivory here in the UK, it is clear he says “………that only by closing our domestic ivory market will we be playing our part in winning the war against the illegal wildlife trade. The 17th CITES conference opening in Johannesburg this weekend offers the UK government the ideal opportunity to take the lead in stopping the killing.”
The Prince was joined at the Tusk Time For Change event by broadcaster Hugh Fearnley Whitingstall and by via live satellite link from Johannesburg by CITES Secretary General, John Scanlon, and from Tokyo by the event’s sponsor, the Japanese philanthropist, Dr Haruhisa Handa.
On learning of the poaching crisis with Africa’s wildlife, Dr Handa, offered the support of his ISPS Handa foundation to enable Tusk to stage today’s simultaneous event in London, Tokyo and Johannesburg. He told the events’ guests and those watching live online, “I do not wish to be part of a generation, who knew what was happening and yet did nothing. We can not let these wonderful creatures disappear from our planet. That would be a terrible crime.”
Tusk thanks the additional event sponsors Land Rover, Avios and Pol Roger, and also thanks CTN Communications, the South African Institute of International Affairs and Stop Ivory for their support in staging the event.
If you missed the speeches from the Time for Change Event, they can now be viewed by clicking here.