Turkish Airlines pledges zero-tolerance on illegal wildlife trade

Turkish Airlines has signed the United for Wildlife Buckingham Palace Declaration (UFW), pledging for zero-tolerance regarding the illegal wildlife trade.

The “United for Wildlife Buckingham Palace Declaration (UFW)” which was on the agenda of the 73rd IATA Annual General Meeting held in Cancun, Mexico last June, was signed by 41 airline companies.

The Turkish Airlines Deputy Chairman and CEO, Mr. Bilal Ekşi, said: “With this declaration, we at Turkish Airlines are not only underlining one of the most important environmental issues of our times, trafficking of wildlife, but we are also setting an example of responsibility.”

According to a statement, he said with the signature, “We hope that we are contributing to the level of awareness on the issue and smoothing the path for legal enforcement procedures against the traffickers.”

He maintained that Turkish Airlines as a socially and environmentally cautious airline is committed to tackling illegal wildlife trade by increasing passenger, customer, client, and staff awareness about the nature, scale, and consequences of illegal wildlife trade.

The statement further noted that illegal activity has deeper socio-economic impact, fueling organized crime, undermining the posterity of economies and feeding insecurity across the globe.

“The illegal wildlife trade threatens to extinguish many of the world’s most iconic and special creatures, forcing them to the brink of extinction and threatening our global biodiversity. 

“Typically it is quite common in Nigeria to see hawkers with the remains of various animals killed in the course of hunting,” the statement reads. 

While noting that Nigeria pays high premium on matters that concern conservation of biodiversity and the protection of endangered fauna and flora, he said the government alone cannot curb the phenomenon.

“International organisations more importantly airlines who are key players in the international wildlife trade should play more important role in preserving the wildlife diversity, Turkish Airlines which has been operating in Nigeria for over a decade understands the value of biodiversity,” he said.