Prince William hears how United for wildlife partners are supporting efforts to counter illegal wildlife trade on visit to Dubai
DUBAI, 10th February, 2022 – Prince William, the founder of The Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife, marked his trip to Dubai with a visit to Jebel Ali Port, hearing how partners in the region are working to end the illegal wildlife trade and seeing a demonstration of their work.
The illegal wildlife trade is among the five most lucrative global crimes and is often run by highly organised criminal networks.
Prince William founded United for Wildlife with The Royal Foundation to raise awareness of this serious organised crime and bring motivated leaders from business, law enforcement and charities together to bring about a more significant response than conservations alone.
Jebel Ali Port is owned by DP World, the Principal Partner of United for Wildlife.
They have been instrumental in recognising this vision and raising awareness of action on this issue.
DP World is headquartered in Dubai and handles around 10% of global container traffic across its ports and terminals worldwide.
During his visit to Jebel Ali, Prince William was given a port tour to see the scale of operations at the Middle East’s largest port.
His Royal Highness was then delivered a live demonstration of cargo being unloaded from ships, the journey through customs, learning about how cutting-edge new technology can be deployed to identify trafficked wildlife items, and support enforcement investigations.
Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO, DP World, said: “As a leading global logistics business, we recognise the important need to address the rising concerns posed by the illegal wildlife trade, which not only impacts biodiversity but has ramifications for our planet and local communities.
We are taking extensive measures to tackle the issues, including collaborating with United for Wildlife and technology companies to develop processes to improve the detection of illegal wildlife cargo.
We are deeply honoured by Prince William’s visit and his unwavering support to this cause and hope that organisations, governments, transport companies and influencers mobilise to raise awareness of the devastation such trade causes around the world.
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United for Wildlife is building a global network of transport and finance experts, united in a shared aim to stop criminals from exploiting their networks and end the illegal wildlife trade.
Ahead of Prince Williams’s visit Dubai’s International Airport has announced it will become a signatory of The Buckingham Palace Declaration, becoming the latest member of United for Wildlife’s Transport Taskforce and further strengthening awareness of this crime in the region.
United for Wildlife has launched a Middle East and North Africa Chapter to recognise this building momentum.
New signatories from the financial services sector join this growing network further to enhance the regional response to the illegal wildlife trade.
Convened by DP World at their Dubai Expo 2020 pavilion brought together leading figures from across transport, finance, law enforcement and NGOs, including support by Her Excellency Mariam Almheiri – UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, who delivered a keynote speech.
The Regional Chapter will work with UfW’s international finance and transport taskforces to share information and resources, strengthen existing partnerships and better respond to support local priorities.
It is the fifth regional chapter to launch, following East Africa, Southern Africa, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and Australasia.
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