Qatar Airways Joins USAID Routes Partnership to Combat Wildlife Trafficking

Doha, October 18 (QNA) - Qatar Airways announced that it has joined the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Convention for Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species (ROUTES) to join a select group of private sector, non-government organizations and government agencies in a concerted response to combat wildlife crime across transportation networks. The carrier affirmed in a statement Wednesday that as a partner in the USAID Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Transport of Endangered Species (ROUTES) Partnership and a signatory to the United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce Buckingham Palace Declaration it will increase its commitment to protect endangered species from illegal trade and transportation and will help raise awareness and build capacity with Qatar Airways staff and strengthen solutions to help stop the trafficking of wildlife. "We have a prominent position in establishing industry solutions to global threats, such as the illegal transportation of endangered wildlife," Qatar Airways Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said. "Qatar Airways is proud to stand with other aviation industry leaders to state that we have zero tolerance for this criminal activity. As a result, we have devoted resources to raise awareness to not only eliminate wildlife trafficking, but to protect these creatures that we value," he added. ROUTES and Qatar Airways signed a partnership memorandum of understanding in May 2017, officially making Qatar Airways the newest member of the ROUTES Partnership. Qatar Airways Cargo, the world's third largest international cargo carrier, implements rigorous procedures in its requirements of consignors, in an enhanced effort to prevent and detect miss-consignment, one of the chief ways this illegal trade is carried out. The illegal trade of wildlife is the fourth largest black market in the world, worth approximately $20 billion annually, and impacts more than 7,000 species of animals and plants. Wildlife traffickers regularly exploit the increasing connectivity of global transportation, threatening human health and security, creating risk throughout industry supply chains and pushing animal species into extinction. Aware of the scale of this problem, Qatar Airways has developed a global collaborative network including government authorities, international regulators and sector experts such as the ROUTES Partnership. It also maintains highly cooperative relationships with other international carriers, freight forwarders and customs agents, to ensure transparency and effective information exchange and to increase deterrence and detection of this criminal activity. (QNA)