The Duke of Cambridge has condemned the trade in illegal wildlife as a “vicious form of criminality” and said that China can be a global leader in the fight against it in a speech on the last day of his visit to China.
Speaking at the Xishuangbanna Elephant Sanctuary in Yunnan Province, Prince William said: “it is appalling that elephants - and many others - may be extinct in the wild in our lifetimes”.
The extinction of elephants and other animals such as rhinos and pangolins would be “an immeasurable loss to the whole of humanity,” he said.
The prince said the illegal trade in wildlife, just like pollution and climate change, “recognise[d] no borders”. He said it is a “common enemy” that “erodes the rule of law, fuels conflict, and may even fund terrorism”.
The prince has been campaigning to save endangered animals for several years and in December he mentioned in a speech how in China the wholesale price of ivory had increased from $5 (£3) to $2,100 per kilogram in 25 years and poaching has increased as a result.
Today he praised China for its “contribution to the protection of wildlife in Africa” but he said that there is much more to be done including reducing the demand for products made from endangered animals. “Demand provides traffickers with their incentive. It fuels their greed, and generates their vast profits,” he said.
China has come under fire from conservationists who say that its huge appetite for ivory has fuelled poaching to a level that it threatens the existence of elephants in parts of Africa. Ivory has become a popular luxury item among China’s wealthy.
Praising the one-year ban on the import of ivory carvings implemented last week in China, the prince said such steps are “welcome” and would help to ensure that the legal trade could not be used as a front to launder illegal ivory products. China’s State Administration of Forestry declared the ban last Thursday with immediate effect in a public notice posted on its official site, in which it said the administration would not handle any import request.
William said he had discussed the efforts China is making during his meeting with president Xi Jinping on Monday, who told him of China’s “intention to do more”.
The prince met with conservationists during his visit to the sanctuary and fed a rescued elephant named Ran Ran. He also met with the local Dai community who live side by side with wild elephants.
In a reference to China’s challenge to balance GDP growth with environmental protection the prince said that all countries “experience the tension between the need to develop resources for the good of all, and the responsibility to preserve nature” and that this is a “difficult balance”. The two cannot be separated, he added, and long-term economic stability requires “sustainable development green growth”.
The prince features on a billboard campaign in China along with David Beckham and Chinese celebrities such as former basketball player Yao Ming and actress Li Bingbing that aims reduce demand for ivory. During the Prince’s visit, he also featured on a television campaign being aired across the country and on the world’s largest video screen on the facade of the Citi Tower on the waterfront of Shanghai’s iconic Bund.
WildAid, the organisation behind the campaign, said that consumer awareness in China of the impact of the trade in ivory and rhino horn has grown rapidly over the past two years.
Reports released this week by WildAid found that 95% of those surveyed agree the Chinese government should impose a ban on the ivory trade. They also found that 70.6% believe elephant poaching is a problem, compared with 46.6% in 2012.
The prince’s first visit to China has been the highest profile royal visit to the country in 30 years since the Queen’s tour in 1986. He has made a better impression than his father, who famously described Chinese officials as “appalling old waxworks” in a leaked diary at the time of the Hong Kong handover in 1997.
The prince kicked off his four-day visit in Beijing where he met Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People and presented the president with an official invitation from the Queen for a state visit later this year. They discussed a number of topics including their shared interest in football.
The visit has also been used to promote British business ties with China. In Shanghai, the prince opened the GREAT Festival of Creativity that aims to create jobs by supporting UK companies looking to break into Chinese markets. Partnerships between the UK and China in film, TV, healthcare and tourism were announced at the festival, and the prince met with business leaders including Jack Ma of Alibaba, the richest man in China.
To mark football being added to the national school curriculum, the prince joined a football master class with coaches who are trained by the Premier League at the Nanyang High School in Shanghai. There was also time for a little light relief on Tuesday when took to the red carpet with another famous British figure, Paddington Bear, for the China premiere of the movie
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