Dubai, UAE – November 2015: Two
massive Emirates A380 jets take to the skies this week, wearing special livery
in support of United for Wildlife, a global collaboration that unites the
efforts of the world’s leading wildlife charities in the fight against the
illegal wildlife trade.
The beautiful livery, featuring some
of the planet’s wildlife threatened by poaching and the illegal wildlife trade,
aims to raise awareness of the illegal wildlife trade and
communicate the need for urgent action.
The Rt Hon The Lord Hague of
Richmond, Chair of the United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce said: “We
welcome the efforts and commitment made by Emirates airline to combat the
illegal wildlife trade. This is more than just an environmental issue. The
illegal wildlife trade is now recognized as a serious and organized
transnational crime. It drives corruption, is linked to money laundering and
can damage economic development in many of the world’s poorest countries and
communities. It will take a concerted effort, involving not only effective
deterrents against poaching and smuggling, and vigilance in policing and
punishing these crimes, but also efforts to increase consumer education to cut
demand to protect these animals for the future.
” Sir Tim Clark, President Emirates
Airline said: “Many animals, in particular African elephants, rhinos, tigers,
and pangolins, are under extreme pressure because of an unprecedented spike in
the illegal wildlife trade. The world is in a global poaching crisis, and
everyone has to do their part to stop this, before it is too late. Emirates believes
that the global transport industry, including airlines, can play a significant
role to break the supply chain of illegal wildlife trade. And at Emirates, we
are committing the resources to do our part.”
Consumers too, can contribute in a
big way, by boycotting products made from the parts of these endangered animals
and discouraging others from doing so.
Emirates’ two A380s will be operating
flights this week. The first one departed for London (LHR) on 2nd November and
a second will operate to Mauritius (MRU) on 5th November, each wearing a
different design featuring endangered wildlife. The decal on the first flight
featured six endangered species, while the second flight will feature a decal
with rhinos and elephants. Both designs cover the world’s largest passenger
aircraft almost from nose to tail, spreading over the wings and under-belly of
the plane. Approximately 40% of the surface area of the A380 will be covered by
the decal. The larger of the two designs span over 42.5 metres in length and
6.2 metres in width, and weighs 70kg. Entirely designed, produced, and applied
by Emirates’ in-house staff, both of these are the largest decals the airline
has put on any aircraft, to date and took a team of 28 people 2.5 days to apply
the decals on one A380, or approximately 900 man hours per aircraft.
View the timelapse video of the
aircraft putting on its new livery here
In addition to its two A380s
literally “flying” the flag for the cause, Emirates will run regular feature
stories about wildlife protection in its inflight magazines, and showcase
podcast interviews, wildlife programming and feature films on its award-winning
ice inflight entertainment system. This subject was the cover story in the
October edition of Emirates’ Open Skies magazine, which can be read here.
The airline is also collaborating
with international organizations to train and better equip its ground and cargo
staff to detect and deal with illegal wildlife products in transit. As the required
paperwork for movement of some wildlife products is often forged, Emirates also
made the decision to ban trophy shipments.
dnata, one of the world's largest air
services provider and a member of the Emirates Group, is also raising awareness
through its dnata4good initiative. dnata4good has already been working with
local charity organizations and authorities to save the Rhinos in South Africa.
dnata4good has already funded an emergency response vehicle which treats
poached rhinos in the field and have played a major part in educating local
children on the dangers of poaching. In addition to this, they have also
supported the first rhino orphanage and rehabilitation facility which is now
fully operational in Hoedspruit.
Quick facts about the threat to
wildlife from poaching and illegal trade.
There are as few as 3,200 tigers left in the
wild. Illegal trade in their parts and products is one of the biggest threats
to wild tigers. Between 2000 and 2014, the parts of at least 1,590 tigers were
seized in Asia. ·
Rhino poaching in South Africa increased from 13 rhinos in 2007 to 1215
rhinos in 2014. That now equates to more than three rhinos a day. Africa-wide,
1,293 rhinos are reported to have been poached in 2014. ·
Around 30,000 African elephants are killed by poachers each year.
Central Africa is worst hit with a poaching rate twice the continental average.
Left unaddressed, poaching could cause the extinction of elephants in Central
Africa.
The pangolin is the world's most-trafficked mammal. Over a million
pangolins are estimated to have been poached in the last ten years. ·
Park rangers are often ill equipped and inexperienced to tackle armed
and ruthless poachers. Poaching syndicates have changed the way they operate
and are now using sophisticated weaponry and equipment to increase their
activities and avoid detection (helicopters, veterinary drugs, night vision
equipment). 1,000 rangers are estimated to have been killed in ten years while
protecting wildlife.
About Emirates
Founded in 1985, Emirates is a global
connector of people and places. Based in Dubai, the airline’s global network
serves 147 destinations in 79 countries across six continents.
Its luxurious amenities, regionally
inspired gourmet cuisine, award-winning in-flight entertainment system – ice –
and unmatched hospitality provided by its iconic multilingual Cabin Crew have
made Emirates one of the world’s most recognized airline brands.
About United for Wildlife
United for Wildlife is an
unprecedented alliance between seven of the world’s most influential
conservation organisations and The Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge and Prince Harry. The collaboration between Conservation
International (CI), Fauna & Flora International (FFI), International Union
for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Wildlife
Conservation Society (WCS), WWF-UK, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and
The Royal Foundation hopes to lead the way to substantially increase the global
response to major conservation crisis.
With the support of The Royal
Foundation, United for Wildlife hopes to bring attention to acute conservation
problems, the most pressing of which, as agreed amongst the collaboration, is
the rapid escalation of the illegal wildlife trade. This trade is having a
devastating effect on wild populations of some of the largest and most iconic
species: elephants, rhinos and tigers, plus lesser known animals such as the
pangolin.
The President of Emirates Airline,
Sir Tim Clark, has joined the United for Wildlife International Taskforce on
the Transport of Illegal Wildlife Products which is focused on stopping the
shipment of illegal wildlife products. The Taskforce is chaired by The Rt Hon
The Lord Hague of Richmond, former Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs. The Taskforce has brought together senior representatives
of the transport industry to make practical recommendations for the reduction
of trafficking of illegal wildlife products.
