Conservationists applaud our message to world leaders to avert another pandemic
The Independent, along with 20 leading wildlife conservation groups, delivered a declaration to the G20 Summit demanding urgent action to protect people and planet
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Your support makes all the difference.The conservation world has applauded work led by The Independent to help convene 20 leading wildlife conservation groups to deliver a united plea to this year’s G20, calling for urgent action to invest in nature to avoid future pandemics and safeguard the planet’s well-being.
The initiative, called Wildlife Conservation 20 - or WC20 - which is part of our Stop The Illegal Wildlife Trade campaign, delivered a declaration signed by 20 wildlife NGOs to world leaders on the first day of their annual summit on Saturday, this year hosted by Saudi Arabia and held virtually.
The CEO of Conservation International - one of the organisations that formed WC20 - Dr. M. Sanjayan called the declaration “a remarkable consensus among conservation groups about the future of the planet.
“It demonstrates how the world can prevent future pandemics and safely recover from COVID-19. If there’s one lesson that we need to take away from this moment, it’s that we can prevent future pandemics by taking care of nature.
“The WC20’s recommendations present a clear path forward for governments.”
Among the organisations that signed the declaration were the World Wildlife Fund, Zoological Society of London, the African Wildlife Foundation, the Paradise Foundation, Conservation International, Fauna & Flora International and the Jane Goodall Institute
The group’s five key recommendations to G20 leaders include the need to strengthen and implement existing laws while inking new ones to protect wildlife and habitats, ramping up law enforcement to fight wildlife trafficking, safeguarding natural ecosystems with investment, supporting local communities, and tackling demand for wildlife products.
Will Travers, co-founder and Executive President of Born Free Foundation - another of the 20 conservation groups involved - called it a watershed moment for the planet, and tweeted a link to the declaration which he called “possibly the most important Tweet ever!”
Mark Rose, CEO of Fauna & Flora International, said “we urgently need world leaders to acknowledge the crucial importance of nature.”
Dominic Jermey, ZSL Director General, took to Twitter to share the declaration, telling his followers it was time “to urge leaders to consider nature-based solutions to our global challenges”. He added: “Diseases, climate breakdown and ecological crisis have no respect for national borders – as so ferociously highlighted by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Tackling these crises requires united action on a global scale. We want to see the G20 leaders push for nature-based solutions to these global problems – and have the local communities who are most closely associated with wildlife at their heart.
“Reviving our economies will be a priority at the G20, but we urge these leaders to seek a green recovery - tackling the underlying pressures and mitigating the risks of future pandemics. The benefits of restoring nature will far outweigh the costs.”
The WC20’s declaration has also been heralded a success by EndPandemics, a global alliance of organisations - representing conservation, health, finance, security, agroforestry, business, technology, and education fields - united to protect people and planet.
CEO Andrey Kushlin said ”we applaud the conveners of the WC20 process for their proactive outreach and engaging a diverse set of perspectives toward a converging strong outcome.”
Dr Max Graham, CEO of Space for Giants, our Stop The Illegal Wildlife Trade campaign’s charity partner, said: “Agreeing and delivering the WC20’s declaration really was a watershed moment. Now it’s over to the G20 governments to listen and take the measures needed to protect wildlife and the natural world. They can also act and know that it’s cheaper to invest in nature to reduce the risk of pandemics, than to deal with the awful economic fallout they cause.
"We will be working hard to ensure that protecting our natural world stays on world leaders' agenda even if, as we hope, vaccines and anti-virus measures mean the peak of the pandemic has passed the next time the G20 meet. ”
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