In 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the world, over one million of our supporters signed our petition demanding world leaders at the 2020 G20 Summit in Saudi Arabia address the real threat of the global wildlife trade.
The problem
Thousands of wild animals are poached or farmed and sold into the global multi-billion-dollar trade as food, pets, traditional medicine and entertainment.
Not only is this animal cruelty, but it’s also putting us at risk of zoonotic diseases like COVID-19 and destroying delicate ecosystems.
When the G20 met in November 2020, their focus was on dealing with the pandemic and coordinating a global response - we called for that response to include a commitment to ending the global trade in wild animals.
Look back at some of our campaigns on the topic of global wildlife trade:
Outcome
With your support, in the lead-up to the 2020 summit, we collected over one million signatures on our 'End the global wildlife trade' petition.
Despite 1.1 million of you calling for an end to the cruel, dangerous global wildlife trade which caused Covid-19, there was no clear agreement to end it. Read the full article here.
As the 2021 summit in Italy warms up, we released The Horrors of the Wildlife Trade, a short film made in collaboration with Aaron Gekoski, highlighting how the fate of animals, people, and our global economy rests in the hands of G20 leaders:
News: New film calls on G20 world leaders to end the horrors of the global wildlife trade
The theme for 2021 was 'People, Planet and Prosperity', all of which are threatened by the global wildlife trade.
We asked our supporters to Tweet G20 leaders using the hashtag #EndWildlifeTrade.
World Animal Protection, together with Four Paws and Humane Society International, called on G20 to end wildlife trade. Read the full article here.