Post-Covid strategy for nature conservation launched by charity Space for Giants

Stop the Illegal Wildlife Trade: Response maps out next steps to help protect wildlife and prevent future pandemics

Actions include the lobbying of leaders to combat the illegal wildlife trade, creating a major deterrent for wildlife crime in source and destination countries, and generating revenue to protect and manage natural ecosystems (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A groundbreaking strategy setting out how nature conservationists must respond to the global pandemic was unveiled last night at an international summit convening amid the 75th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

Space for Giants, the conservation charity which partners with The Independent on our Stop The Illegal Wildlife Trade campaign, announced the first-of-its-kind plan in a plenary session of the 2020 Concordia Annual Summit. The event was attended virtually by leading conservationists, scientists and NGOs around the world.

Dr Max Graham, the founder and CEO of Space for Giants, said “The Covid crisis has made the scale of the risk presented to humanity by illegal trade in wildlife all too clear.

“But what is now also evident is that unless we tackle the illegal trade the next pandemic could be right around the corner. To tackle this issue, once for all, we have launched our Covid response for nature conservation”.

The session was part of The Independent’s Stop the Illegal Wildlife Trade campaign, which was launched to seek an international effort to clamp down on poaching and the illegal trade of wild animals.

Dr Graham was joined by the Rt Honorable Lord William Hague, former British foreign secretary, Dr Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, founder of NGO Conservation Through Public Health and Professor Lee White CBE, Minister of Water, Forest, the Sea and Environment for the Gabonese Republic.

The Space for Giants Covid response for nature conservation maps out the next steps that need to be taken to help protect wildlife and prevent a future pandemic.

Actions include the lobbying of leaders to combat the illegal wildlife trade, creating a major deterrent for wildlife crime in source and destination countries, and generating revenue to protect and manage natural ecosystems, many of which have been hit hard by the abrupt halt of tourism income.

For the first time, the strategy makes clear how the global general public can support the vital being done to protect the natural world.

Dr Graham added “There is a huge funding gap that needs to be filled. We must retain the value of iconic conservation areas that are so critical for the future of all life, including our own. They must be protected to ensure that all of the hard work that has already been done is not undone.”

More details about the Space for Giants Covid response for nature conservation will be announced next week.

To donate please contact ceo@spaceforgiants.org or visit www.spaceforgiants.org