Gabon and Germany, united by their leadership in biodiversity conservation and multilateral cooperation, stand together to declare an urgent global call to take action against illicit wildlife trafficking.

On June 30, 2025, marking the tenth anniversary of the initial resolution in 2015, the United Nation’s General Assembly adopted a more ambitious and restructured new Resolution on “Tackling illicit trafficking in wildlife”.

Building on this UNGA Resolution A/RES/79/313 and our longstanding partnership, we emphasize that wildlife crime is not only a threat to ecosystems but also to global security, public health, and sustainable development.

We recognize that the fight against wildlife trafficking is yielding concrete results[1]:

• Over the past decade, poaching, seizure levels and market prices for elephant ivory and rhinoceros horn have declined solidly in many parts of the world.

• A series of coordinated multi-country counter wildlife trafficking operations have been carried out, including three iterations of the multilateral Operation Cobra initiatives between 2013– 2015, and seven Operation Thunder initiatives during 2017–2023. During Operation Thunder in 2024, nearly 20.000 live animals, all endangered and protected species, have been seized in a joint effort by INTERPOL and the World Customs Organization.

• Many countries have created specialized enforcement units, multi-agency teams and national strategies, and have recognized wildlife crime as a priority crime. 164 Member States of the United Nations criminalize wildlife crime offences, with 86 of them having penalties that meet the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) definition of a serious crime.

• Progress has also been made with engagement of private sector businesses in efforts to increase barriers to trade-related wildlife crime, including through task forces for the financial and transport sectors.

These measurable achievements demonstrate that with political will, international cooperation, and robust enforcement, we can turn the tide against wildlife crime.

But more must be done.

The adoption of UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/79/313 marked a critical step forward. Unfortunately, resolutions alone cannot stop this up to $23 billion worth annual illegal trade that drives species to extinction, fuels corruption, and threatens global health, and poses security risks. The time to act is now.

We call on the international community to adopt holistic and integrated approaches to effectively address illicit wildlife trafficking and its enablers, including corruption. We urge member states to further strengthen intelligence sharing between enforcement agencies, utilize advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to detect and dismantle online trafficking networks and to fund and to train rangers and prosecutors across the globe. We encourage states to explore ways to fight the transnational trade with wildlife or wildlife products that have been acquired in contravention of national laws of the source country.

Tackling wildlife crime must be part of broader efforts to combat crimes that affect the environment. We urge states to ensure that those who work to protect the environment and those who fight against corruption are protected from being attacked, threatened and intimidated for their work.

We call for preventing and combating wildlife crime to be embedded into the international criminal law framework by developing a new global, stronger and coercive agreement, against the illicit trafficking in wild fauna and flora. The upcoming UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime review in 2026 presents our best chance to further establish wildlife trafficking as a “serious crime” under international law. Gabon and Germany urge you to join us in this crucial reform.

The elephants of Gabon's Ivindo National Park and the last rhinos of the planet cannot wait. In this perspective, and consistent with its environmental commitments, Gabon intends to organize a major international conference on this issue in Libreville by 2027, with the support of its longstanding partners.

[1] UNODC, World Wildlife Crime Report 2024: Trafficking in Protected Species (Vienna: United Nations

publications, 2024).