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The number of global airlines joining hands to reduce illegal trade in wildlife is growing, with Cathay Pacific, SriLankan Airlines, Thai Airways and Virgin Australia signing the Duke of Cambridge’s ‘United for Wild Life Transportation Task Force’ here late on Thursday.
Air India and Jet Airways had signed the initiative in March.
The move comes as airlines are worried that if the extinction of species and destruction of the ecosystem continues, it will result in economic impacts on vulnerable communities and nature-based tourism organisations, including their supporting airlines.
Having flown 3.5 billion people and achieved an annual growth rate of 6.5 per cent last year, the industry wants to not only ensure that it does its part to prevent extinction of species, but also ensure that passengers fly with them to see these animals.
Illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be the fourth-largest trans-national illegal trade after narcotics, counterfeiting and human trafficking, and believed to be worth $19 billion annually.
As part of this initiative to prevent extinction, IATA is ensuring that airlines’ staff are sensitised to look out for unnatural routing that a passenger may have taken.
For example, 15 passengers who wanted to travel to Cambodia from Angola, were booked to travel from Angola to Hong Kong and then onwards to South Korea, before reaching their destination. However, the aircraft was grounded in Hong Kong for technical reasons and bags were offloaded and subjected to customs inspection. This resulted in the seizure of 790 kg of ivory.
Airlines will also be encouraged to show two separate videos – one to sensitise airline staff and the other to sensitise passengers – about protecting the wildlife on their in-flight entertainment systems.
“The video for airline staff has a message from the Duke, asking them to be the ‘ears and eyes’ for preventing and cutting down on illegal trafficking of animals. The in-flight entertainment video will raise awareness among passengers on the role they could play, by taking care of small things like not buying products manufactured from animal parts,” an IATA official said.
The writer is in Dublin at the invitation of International Air Transport Association.
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