Wildlife trafficking poses a serious and growing threat, not only to the survival of numerous species of flora and fauna, but also to the rule of law, human rights, global governance, wellbeing of local communities and most importantly the very survival of the world's ecosystems.
The illegal wildlife trade has become a billion-euro crime industry dominated by organised criminal groups. With the risk of detection low and the financial rewards high, this attracts criminal gangs to exploit illegally caught and removed wildlife to fund their activities.
The EU's action plan against wildlife trafficking launched earlier this year by the European Commission will strengthen Europe's role in the global fight against wildlife trafficking, through better enforcement and increased global cooperation. As rapporteur, I welcome the targets in this plan, although I have suggestions on building and improving them.
The action plan must not only prevent wildlife trafficking, but address its root causes. A crucial step in achieving this will be to reduce the global demand for illegal wildlife products by delivering a series of targeted awareness-raising campaigns.
The EU must address the serious issue of corruption in the supply chain by developing the capacity of country enforcement agencies at the source of plant and animal removal, as well as supporting ranger forces who are tackling wildlife trafficking on the ground. Effective implementation and enforcement of existing rules to combat organised wildlife crime are crucial.
As it stands, member states are not providing sufficient seizure information and data to the existing enforcement agencies Europol and Eurojust, which severely limits their ability to tackle wildlife trafficking on a cross-border level. Only with a dedicated wildlife crime unit at Europol and a wildlife crime coordinator in the Commission will we properly address this problem.
The EU should explore the possibility of introducing legislation to prohibit the import, trade and re-export of species that are protected in their countries of origin.
While CITES is a useful tool for regulating wildlife trade and protecting endangered species, it does not cover all critical species, nor is it able to react to changing circumstances quickly enough, and therefore provides criminals with easy opportunities to exploit loopholes.
Finally, the EU in itself is a very active and important market for illegal wildlife products. Not only is it a transit point and destination market for trade, it is also a source for illegal wildlife products protected under EU law.
Member states must also address the internal trade in European plants and animals that are illegally collected and sold as legal commodities both within the EU and farther afield, such as flowers, food, furniture and exotic pets.
They also need to consider updating and improving their animal welfare and rescue centres to cope with the large variety of species which are seized at border points and elsewhere in the EU.
Ultimately, it is the shared responsibility of member states to meet this challenge and halt the rapid decline in some of the world's most cherished species.
By doing so we will not only be preserving biodiversity for future generations, but also improving and bolstering the EU's security framework, improving the lives of local communities in developing countries, increasing sustainable development, protecting against corruption and strengthening the rule of law across the world.