East Midlands MEP Emma McClarkin chairs high-profile panel on illegal wildlife trade

Emma McClarkin MEP today, hosted and chaired a panel of experts to the European Parliament, to talk about illegal wildlife trade and the importance of trade policy to fight this crime.

This public hearing is another initiative on Miss McClarkin’s active campaign to fight illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products and follows the unanimous support given by the Committee on International Trade to her own-initiative report on how commercial policy can contribute to the sustainability of wildlife.

Miss McClarkin said, “It is important that we keep talking about this problem and pushing it to be at the top of our priorities. Despite the fact that more and more people and the relevant stakeholders seem to be waking up to this problem, the numbers are still alarming when it comes to the decline in some species of fauna and flora.”

She added:

“The good and promising news on ivory bans recently announced by a few source, transit, and destination markets must now be implemented and show the international community that this is serious talk”.

“This requires cooperation and commitment from all of us, not just governments. That is why today we also heard from private sector experts who told us about initiatives and best practises to trace illicit wildlife trade in e-commerce platforms and distribution networks”.