Turkish Airlines advocates protection of wildlife in Nigeria

Turkish Airlines has signed the “United for Wildlife Buckingham Palace Declaration (UFW)” pledging for zero-tolerance to illegal wildlife trade.

This move was in line with the airlines understanding of the value of biodiversity and a move to also stop illegal wildlife traders from forcing some species of wildlife from going into extinction.

The Turkish Airlines Deputy Chairman and CEO, Mr Bilal Eksi expressed his passion for wildlife protection during the signing ceremony, in Lagos, recently.

According to him,  the declaration, informed Turkish Airlines’ position, not only underlining one of the most important environmental issues of the times, especially, trafficking of wildlife, but also setting an example of responsibility.

“Today with this signature we hope that we are contributing to the level of awareness on the issue and smoothening the path for legal enforcement procedures against the traffickers.” said Eksi.

He noted that the illegal activity has deeper socio-economic impact, fueling organized crime, undermining the prosperity of economies and feeding insecurity across the globe.

“Typically, it is quite common in Nigeria to see hawkers with the remains of various animals killed in the course of hunting.  Rural and some urban societies in the country have gone as far as to legalise the hunting and killing of wildlife to the extent that certain days are set aside every year in various communities for hunting,” he said, bemoaning the situation because Nigeria is a signatory to virtually all global agreements on biodiversity.

He said Turkish Airlines ratified the Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species (CITES) in 1974 and that its first national legislation evolved 30 years ago has been reviewed with inputs from CITES Secretariat and the new legislation has been rated first category by CITES,  “Nigerian government has been advocating for the creation of a special window under the Global Environment Facility (GEF) for the protection of endangered species. “Besides, Nigeria  pays high premium on matters that concern conservation of biodiversity and the protection of endangered fauna and flora, with the conviction that wildlife is a very important component of the ecosystem and it is expedient to stop its illegal trade in order to conserve them for posterity and ecological balance”.

It is important to note that different species in nature are connected through various food webs, and the disappearance of one species could affect several others down the line. The need for innovative solutions and improved data to facilitate interventions to stop illegal wildlife trade has been noted by the United Nations and USAID-supported Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge. Organisations with the power and influence to effect change should take it upon themselves to champion this initiative helping to secure a safer future for not only the human species but also to wildlife including plants.