IndiaCSR News Network
NEW DELHI: The Maersk Group and a few other transport leaders from across sectors in India met with the Duke of Cambridge today in New Delhi to reiterate their support in fight to shut down transport of illegal wildlife. Maersk Line is leading this initiative on behalf of the Maersk Group.
Maersk Line India will publish a zero tolerance policy on its website soon and will roll out awareness and compliance training programs for its employees in India. It will also collaborate with other local ecosystem partners to develop and implement mechanisms that enable the transport sector to receive improved information about the transport of suspected illegal wildlife and related products, including methods of transportation, key routes, ports and other locations.
“We welcome the Duke’s efforts to raise awareness on this in India. Maersk Line has a zero tolerance towards illegal transport of wildlife. By signing the Buckingham Declaration, we are committing to take real steps across our operations including India, to shut down the routes exploited by traffickers of the illegal wildlife trade moving their products from killing field to marketplace,” said Franck Dedenis, Managing Director, Maersk Line India & Sri Lanka.
He added, “The initiative overall further strengthens our ability to get valuable intelligence on routes and ports with higher risk of illegal activity in and around India as well as to screen data and cargo in order to identify potential shipments of suspected illegal wildlife.”
The Maersk Group is a member of the United for Wildlife International Taskforce on the Transportation of Illegal Wildlife Products and had on March 15, 2016 signed ‘The United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce Buckingham Palace Declaration’. By signing the ‘Buckingham Declaration’ the Maersk Group has committed to take real steps to shut down the routes exploited by traffickers of the illegal wildlife trade moving their products from killing field to marketplace.
The United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce Buckingham Palace Declaration
The ‘Buckingham Declaration’ have been collaboratively developed over the last 12 months with leaders within the global transport industry such as Emirates Airlines, Kenya Airways, DHL, DP World, ICS, the World Customs Organisation and leading conservation organizations.
The ‘Buckingham Declaration’ lists 11 commitments aiming to help support the private sector in fighting illegal wildlife trade. The commitments take steps to remove the vulnerabilities in transportation and customs capability that are being exploited by criminal traffickers – and will help raise standards across the board and thwart traffickers looking to exploit the system.
