A Wild for Life campaign exhibition has been opened at Prague's Vaclav Havel airport, raising awareness of the fight against the illegal wildlife trade.
"We are all species," UN Environment Deputy Executive Director Ibrahim Thiaw reminded while opening the exhibition with Monika Leova - former Czech Miss Earth and supporter of the campaign.
The Czech Republic was identified as being one of the main countries involved in rhino horn trafficking by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora - and airports are important partners in tackling the problem.
In order to end the illegal trade in wildlife, we must change attitudes and motivate people to make informed choices that don’t threaten biodiversity. The Wild for Life campaign started in May 2016 and aims to inform and inspire people across the globe in this regard. It exists in all six UN languages as well as Vietnamese and Portuguese.
As part of the campaign, people can choose a kindred species, morph their face onto an image of the species and share on social media.
At the exhibition, morphed images will appear from the football star Yaya Touré, the model Gisele Bundchen, US actor Ian Somerhalder (all UN Environment Goodwill Ambassadors), the primatologist and UN messenger on peace Dr Jane Goodall, Monika Leova (whom you will know), the Vietnamese pop singer Thu Minh, the US actor and musician Adrian Grenier and the football star Neymar Jr.
Wild for Life is UN Environment’s most successful digital campaign ever, reaching over 1 billion people, generating 4.5 million social media reactions, engaging 35 celebrity voices, inspiring 15,000 pledges to take action and winner of numerous awards. It has already been exhibited at Beijing airport, significantly contributing to awareness and public mobilization through pledge-making.
Several species in the campaign, such as rosewood and pangolins, received greater support at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Conference of the Parties.
For more information please write to mark.grassi@unenvironment.org or click here.
