“Give Your Name – Change The Game: Wildlife Crime Just Got Personal”
In the name of all the elephants, tigers, pangolins and other species facing extinction around the world, we are thrilled to announce today that the Wild For Life campaign against the illegal trafficking of endangered wildlife has won the prestigious People’s Voice in the green category of this year’s Webby Awards – the Oscars of the internet.
With 13,000 entries from over 70 countries – and more than 3 million votes cast, our campaign and website were voted as best in their category by the public.
This comes on the back of three Hermes Creative Awards, which the Wild For Life campaign picked up earlier this week: a Platinum Award for our website in the nonprofit category, and Gold Awards for our Communication/Marketing Campaign and for Interactive Capabilities. Administered by the Association of Marketing and Communication, the Hermes Creative Awards honour the messengers and creators of traditional and emerging media.
Led by UN Environment and powered by UN Goodwill Ambassadors, the Wild For Life campaign has reached more than a billion people with over 4.5 million social media interactions. It invites individuals to give their name to protect wildlife in three easy steps. First, take a quiz to find out which endangered animal most shares your personality. Second, use the app to create a morphed photo of you and your kindred species. Third – share widely and raise your voice to protect those without one!
The campaign has also inspired nearly 12,000 people to sign a pledge to go Wild for Life by committing not to enable or allow the illegal trade in wildlife by killing, buying, collecting, giving, trafficking or turning a blind eye.
This trade has had catastrophic effects. Around 100,000 elephants were killed between 2010 and 2012 so that their tusks could be sold for ivory carvings or as investments for speculators banking on extinction.
We lost 96% of all rhinos to poaching between 1970 and 1992, and they have disappeared entirely from several countries in recent years.
Over the last century, 95% of tigers have also disappeared, and now there are only 3,500 left in the wild.
So the list goes on. From the snow leopards of Central Asia (4,000 left and dropping fast) to the pangolins of Africa and Asia (1m poached in the last few years alone), we are decimating endangered species because of ignorance, greed and a desire for trinkets, fake medicine and status symbols that no one needs.
And we are hurting ourselves in the process. Not just because we risk losing some of the most amazing creatures we share our planet with, but because the illegal trade in wildlife threatens livelihoods derived from tourism and healthy ecosystems and drives conflicts and instability around the world. Elephant tusks have been used to fund terrorist groups and the illegal exploitation of resources, including wildlife parts, has been used to finance 18 civil wars since 1990.
So on behalf of every animal whose existence is threatened by illegal trade, we’d like to thank all the people around the world who voted for us – and who took the time to learn more and lend their names to change the game for wildlife.
Together, we are sending a message to the poachers, dealers, buyers and those that let this happen: that we’re paying attention; that these majestic creatures have our protection; that every one of them is visible now. They won’t go without a fight.
Thanks also go to Norway, whose generous contributions funded the campaign, and core partners: the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), as well as other Collaborators and the committed teams at Discovery Communications, Highlands Coffee, Kenya Airways and Rovio (Angry Birds).
UN Ambassadors, sports legends, actors and musicians with a combined social media reach of over 400 million joined the Wild for Life campaign to accelerate reach and inspire public mobilization. Following are the campaign leaders with their kindred species:
- Ragheb Alama: Helmeted Hornbill
- Gael García Bernal: Jaguar
- Li Bingbing: Tibetan Antelope and Asian Elephant
- Gisele Bündchen: Sea Turtle
- Hamish Daud: Sun Bear
- Jacqueline Fernandez: Tiger
- Aidan Gallagher: Hyacinth Macaw
- Adrian Grenier: Sawfish
- Nadya Hutagalung: Orangutan
- Thu Minh: Rhino
- Neymar Jr.:Tiger
- Nikki Reed: Rosewood
- Ian Somerhalder: Pangolin
- Yaya Touré: Elephant
Also supporting were Manish Dayal, Jane Goodall and Neymar Jr., amongst others.
