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The Duke of Cambridge has urged law enforcement agencies around the world to put those behind the “evil crime” of wildlife trafficking behind bars.

Prince William made his impassioned plea at the first meeting of the United for Wildlife Joint Taskforce, bringing together global influencers from the worlds of finance and transport to combat the illegal trade in animal products around the world.

William praised those in the field of wildlife preservation battling against the scourge of organised crime worth hundreds of billions of pounds every year, but admitted “what we are dealing with remains deeply worrying”.

The programme, run by The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, consists of seven conservation organisations uniting to prevent the trafficking of animals and sale of poaching products.

The Duke said there had been great strides in the worldwide battle including 52 law investigations, 10 trafficker arrests and the seizure of £375million worth of illegal animal products this year, but warned “we are barely scratching the surface of what we can achieve”.

(Image: Getty Images)

The event at the Royal Geological Society in Kensington, south west London, was chaired by Lord William Hague, also chair of the financial task force.

The enterprise works to bring together and spread awareness and education at large global banks and their partners to highlight techniques used by organised crime syndicates laundering money from illegal wildlife trafficking.

He said: “Our motivation in doing this work is that we are going to play our part, we are going to do everything we can possibly can to prevent the extinction of some of the world’s most iconic species by poaching or by criminal networks.

“It has taken a lot of hard work – and real commitment – to get to the point where you are all sitting here together today.

“And we should all feel proud that we’re starting to see an impact.

“But it’s just that. The start.

“For although we have made progress, we are barely scratching the surface of what we can achieve.”

(Image: Getty Images)

Lord Hague praised William for his vision in bringing the partners together, saying: “That’s what brought us together initially at your invitation, Sir.

“A little over four years ago when there was eight or nine of us meeting in a room and you asked us to assess whether something could be done in the transportation sector above and beyond what law enforcement and national governments were attempting to do at the time to deal with this problem, to mitigate this problem, to make it harder for the traffickers and for the criminal networks.”

As President of United for Wildlife, The Duke of Cambridge has brought together more than 40 leaders from airlines, shipping firms, port operators, customs, NGOs and charities to work collectively to combat illegal wildlife trafficking, through a ‘Transportation Taskforce’ under the chairmanship of Lord Hague of Richmond.

In March 2016 the United for Wildlife ‘Buckingham Palace Declaration’, was signed, establishing a system to share information on illegal wildlife trade as a priority action for the group.

Since the system’s launch more than 50,000 employees from the global transport industry have received training to help tackle the illegal wildlife trade based on information from the system.

Then last October William and Lord Hague persuaded giants from the financial sector to join the fight against the illegal wildlife trade.

Comprising of representatives from 30 global banks, experts on illegal wildlife trade and financial organisations such as Standard Chartered, HSBC, RBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan, the signatories committed to contributing to the global fight against international wildlife trafficking, signing up to the Mansion House Declaration.

(Image: Getty Images)

Lord Hague added: “Now we have four years on, I think what we can fairly say is that the most extensive collaboration on this issue anywhere in the world, ever in the world, now adding to 117 companies who have signed the Buckingham Palace declaration and the transport sector 35 companies that have signed or signing today the Mansion House declaration in financial services, bringing together the force multiplication of so many companies in these different sectors.”

The Transport Taskforce was formed in 2014 to engage the transport sector in identifying and developing relevant and targeted solutions to wildlife trafficking, including increasing awareness, reporting and enforcement.

Then, in 2018, the financial sector was brought together to form the Financial Taskforce which is committed to sharing resources and intelligence in a bid to disrupt the illegal income generated by trafficking.

The meeting today was the first time the two groups have come together to examine what more the 150 members - including US special agencies, African wildlife protection agencies and large banks such as Standard Chartered - can do to work together to combat illegal wildlife trade.

United for Wildlife is a programme run by The Royal Foundation, working to bring together conservation organisations, law enforcement, governments and global corporations.

Lord Hague added: “We have seen arrests and seizures as a result of our work so we know this can work but now of course we have to really carry it through to success.

“The crisis isn’t alleviating, it isn’t getting any smaller, we face the threat of extinction to a million species on the planet, much of that through habitat lost and climate change but some of that due to excessive and outrageous poaching.

“Our objective is very clear, it is to map out and bring down some of the major trafficking networks and while at the same time improve the training and awareness of people throughout our companies, tens of thousands of employees at different companies have already been trained in how to spot the illegal wildlife trade as a result of our collaboration and sharing of our expertise.”

In his speech, the Duke of Cambridge said hearing about the successes of the task force had been “incredibly reaffirming”.

He added: “So let today be a catalyst for our renewed ambition.

“The scale of what we are dealing with remains deeply worrying.

“In the last four months there have been nine significant seizures in South East Asian countries alone involving tonnes of pangolin scales, rhino horns and ivory.

“We should count all of these seizures as successes in the fight against this crime.

“But for every container that is intercepted, or every suspicious payment that is flagged, hundreds more go undetected.

“And when containers are found, too often the real perpetrators slip away.

“It is only through continued, committed partnership between transport companies, the financial sector, and law enforcement – who I know are represented in the room today – that we will bring these criminals to justice through successful prosecutions.

“You are all experts in your field.

“You have the knowledge and tools to do something about this problem.

“And you are here collectively because you also believe in your organisation’s power to make a difference.

“I have stood at meetings like this many times over the years, where we have all discussed how important we think it is to end the illegal wildlife trade, and all shared our fears for the future.

“But we must, we must ensure these words become action. We must start to see the people behind this evil crime behind bars.

“So let’s make moments like today count.

“When we all meet again, I look forward to hearing about even more progress.

“It is possible – we all know this. It just takes sustained effort, focus and collaboration.”