Hillary Clinton, animal welfare organizations meet in New York to discuss elephant crisis
I was honored to represent the International Fund for Animal Welfare at a meeting at New York’s Central Park Zoo on 15 July 2013 organized and hosted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and convened with the support of former Secretary of State Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The meeting launched a dialogue about how the NGO community, concerned national leaders and public figures can and must join forces to develop and implement a comprehensive, collaborative approach to tackle the global elephant poaching crisis.
Discussions followed on strategies that can effectively prevent poaching, break the trade chains through anti-trafficking efforts, and curtail the demand for ivory. We also discussed the need to secure greater financial and technical support to address the crisis and how a Clinton Global Initiative commitment could advance these strategies.
Mrs. Clinton showed a genuine passion for taking on the issues of illegal wildlife trafficking and poaching and commended the group for coming together to identify concrete ways to protect the world’s remaining elephants. She stressed the security implications of illegal wildlife trafficking, and pointed to the ongoing commitment of the Obama administration to address the crisis. She agreed to do whatever she can to assist with efforts to protect elephants and other species from illegal wildlife trafficking.
IFAW’s staff, supporters and partners can be rightly proud that IFAW was invited to join with senior-level representatives from WCS, the African Wildlife Foundation, Association of Zoos and Aquaria, Conservation International, National Geographic, World Wildlife Fund, Save the Elephants, International Conservation Caucus Foundation, IUCN, Clinton Global Initiative, The Nature Conservancy and TRAFFIC to identify collective strategies to save elephants.