Illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products have been unanimously denounced at the International Air Transport Association 72nd Annual General Meeting in Dublin, Ireland. IATA pledged to partner with government authorities and conservation organisations in the fight against the traffickers of endangered animals.
IATA member airlines will have to increase awareness about the nature, scale and consequences of illegal wildlife trade; partner with airports, freight forwarders and other stakeholders to work proactively with enforcement agencies and conservation organisations to address the problem as well as consider adoption of appropriate policies and procedures to discourage trafficking through awareness programmes, information sharing and incident reporting .
March this year, IATA was among signatories of the Buckingham Palace Declaration supporting the United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce initiative of The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. Airlines are encouraged to individually sign the Declaration.
The original airline signatories to the Buckingham Palace Declaration include Air China Cargo, Air India, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, International Airlines Group (British Airways, Iberia, Vueling Airlines and Aer Lingus), Jet Airways, Kenya Airways, Qantas, Qatar Airways, and South African Airways.
Today, another 10 airlines signed the Declaration at the IATA Annual General Meeting. They are Air Berlin, Air Mauritius, Air Serbia, Air Seychelles, Alitalia, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Luxair, SriLankan Airlines, and Virgin Australia.
On 30 May 2016, Emirates unveiled its fifth Airbus A380 with a special livery in support of United for Wildlife.
This A380 aircraft is also featured in situ, at the traffic roundabout leading to London Heathrow airport. It is built to an exact 1:3 scale of a real A380 aircraft weighing more than 45 tonnes and the model is the same size as a real Boeing 737.
