Protecting wildlife vital for human beings

To turn these lofty global goals and regional ambitions into action will require coordination and collaboration between environmental policymakers, activists, front line officers and police patrolling our boarders, judges and legislators, and also consumers.

In the Asia Pacific we have seen how such collaboration can bring great results. Last year, five individuals and eight organizations received the Asia Environmental Enforcement Award. The winners, hailing from Cambodia, China, Philippines, Thailand, Tonga and Vietnam, were awarded for their efforts in confiscating nearly $69 million in illegal contraband, logs and charcoal, and seizures of nearly 300,000 tons of hazardous waste, wildlife products and timber like the Indian Red Sanders, a wood popularly used to make idols and wooden artifacts. Investigations into these crimes have resulted in nearly $40 million in fines and more than $100 million in frozen assets. Thailand's Anti Money Laundering Office won the award for its excellent work in detecting a wildlife trafficking case.

Building on existing efforts and innovative initiatives on the ground, we should continue our collaborative efforts to ensure that environmental crime is on the top agenda for lawmakers, police, customs officers, prosecutors and judges so that the whole enforcement chain is equipped to address environmental crime.

On this World Wildlife Day we recognize that our actions can prevent the illegal trade that is undermining our development, devastating our communities and threatening the very survival of the world's wildlife. The future of wildlife is in our hands!

The author is regional director and representative, United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific.