The United Nations, backed by A-list celebrities from across the globe, today launched an unprecedented campaign against the illegal trade in wildlife, which is pushing species to the brink of extinction, robbing countries of their natural heritage and profiting international criminal networks.

 

#WildforLife, launched today at the second United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-2) in Nairobi, aims to mobilize millions of people to make commitments and take action to end the illegal trade.

 

The campaign is run by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The Global Environment Facility (GEF) and World Bank are also on board as supporters.

 

UNEP Goodwill Ambassadors are lending their weight to the cause. These include Lebanese singer Ragheb Alama who is supporting the helmeted hornbill, Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen, who is fighting for sea turtles; four-time African Footballer of the Year Yaya Touré (Manchester City, Ivory Coast), who is backing elephants; and actor Ian Somerhalder (Vampire Diaries, Lost), who is rooting for pangolins.

 

They are being joined by major celebrities from China, India, Indonesia and Viet Nam battling to conserve species such as orangutans, tigers, rhinos and helmeted hornbills and calling for citizen support to end the demand that is driving the illegal trade.

 

Between 2010 and 2012, 100,000 elephants were killed for their ivory in Africa. Three rhinos are killed every day, and the Western Black Rhino has already gone extinct. Pangolins - scaly anteaters - are the most illegally trafficked mammal in the world. Great apes are already locally extinct in several African nations.

 

The campaign asks participants to find their kindred species and use their own spheres of influence to end the illegal trade, however it touches or impacts them.

 

Join the campaign by visiting www.wildfor.life and using the #Wildforlife hashtag on Twitter to share your kindred animal and pledge.

 

 

PHOTO ABOVE: Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen.

 

PHOTO BELOW: Lebanese singer Ragheb Alama.