Remarks at the opening of the Global Launch of Harrison Ford PSAs on Wildlife Trafficking

Brian Goldbeck, Deputy Chief of Mission

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, members of the press.

Thank you for coming to the Global Launch of Harrison Ford’s Public Service Announcements or PSAs on Wildlife Trafficking. Today we are going to show you three thirty second television PSAs on this topic designed to raise public awareness about the issue and to stop the consumer demand for illegal wildlife products.  Simply put: “When the buying stops, the killing can too.”

In some cases, wildlife trafficking is posing an even greater threat to wildlife than the loss of their natural habitat.  The numbers are staggering.  The conservative estimate is that the illicit wildlife trade amounts to about $10 billion a year globally.

This illegal wildlife trade has brought us to a "tipping point" in other words; it is pushing many species over the edge to extinction.

Wildlife trafficking is often linked to other forms of organized crime, including the smuggling of drugs, weapons, money, and people.

Wildlife trafficking poses health threats as well, as some diseases, such as avian influenza, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and tuberculosis, can cross species lines and be transferred from animals to humans, endangering public health. 

In Mongolia, many species of wildlife are now under imminent threat of national extinction due to the demand for wildlife products such as saiga antelope horns, red deer antlers, bear parts, skins and furs, and birds of prey.  Think of what a tragedy this would be for Mongolia – to lose these animals forever, for Mongolia’s children to never see these animals, and for the losing the tourism potential of these animals.

Illegal wildlife trade has caused significant decreases in wildlife species in Mongolia (many by 75-90% in just the last 15 years), and threatens the integrity and survival of Mongolia's wildlife, ecosystem, and the rural populations dependent upon the fragile steppe ecosystem for survival.

Today’s event represents a continuation of the U.S. government’s, and our Embassy’s, commitment to combat illicit wildlife trade around the globe including here in Mongolia.  In December 2006, representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the NGO TRAFFIC East Asia sponsored training seminars for members of Mongolia’s Customs and Inspections Agencies that reviewed tools and techniques to combat illegal wildlife trade.   Using U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funding, we have supported since 2003 the Eastern Steppe Living Landscape Program, a program which aims to sustain wildlife, such as the Mongolian gazelle, and traditional livelihoods in the arid grasslands in Dornod, Sukhbaatar, and southern Khenti provinces.

More broadly, through Coalition against Wildlife Trafficking (CAWT) , we seek, at the highest political levels, to end the trade by curbing both the supply and demand for illegal wildlife and wildlife products.  We are educating consumers.  We are creating new international networks for effective law enforcement.

CAWT complements and reinforces the goals and efforts of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna, or CITES, which are focused on monitoring and regulating the trade in CITES-listed species.

Wildlife crime, like all organized crime, is a shared global problem. It affects and involves all of us, in and out of government, in one form or another. Wildlife trafficking isn’t just about charismatic animals. It’s about economic development and the rule of law, public health and safety, biodiversity and sustainability.  We hope Mongolians will do their part to stop this trade and to preserve Mongolia’s rare and precious wildlife. 

Thank You.