Name: Secretary Clinton Delivers Remarks at the Partnership Meeting on Wildlife Trafficking
Uploaded: 2014-03-14T06:43:41.000Z
Duration: 15 min 49 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Secretary Clinton: Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you all very much. Well, it's a

great delight to see all of you here. And as I look out on this audience, I see many

Adverbs of manner

familiar faces from the diplomatic community. And I especially thank each and every one

of you for being here on this important issue. Congressman Moran, thank you for joining us

today. I'd also like to welcome Deputy Administrator Steinberg from USAID, Naoko Ishii of the Global

Environmental Facility. Thanks to Under Secretary Bob Hormats for his commitment to this issue,

along with Under Secretary Maria Otero and Under Secretary Tara Sonenshine and Assistant

Secretary Kerri-Ann Jones, and many others here in the State Department, and particularly

all of you from the conservation and wildlife community and the private sector who have

been involved in this issue for many years and have done extraordinary work. Unfortunately,

we now find ourselves with all of that positive effort that started 30, 40 years ago being

affected by changes that we have to address at every level of the international community.

Now, some of you might be wondering why a Secretary of State is keynoting an event about

wildlife trafficking and conservation, or why we are hosting this event at the State

Department in the first place. Well, I think it's because, as Bob Hormats has just pointed

out, and as the public service announcements reinforce, over the past few years wildlife

trafficking has become more organized, more lucrative, more widespread, and more dangerous

As the middle class grows, which we all welcome and support, in many nations items like ivory

or rhinoceros horn become symbols of wealth and social status. And so the demand for these

goods rises. By some estimates, the black market in wildlife is rivaled in size only

by trade in illegal arms and drugs. Today, ivory sells for nearly $1,000 per pound. Rhino

horns are literally worth their weight in gold, $30,000 per pound.

What's more, we are increasingly seeing wildlife trafficking has serious implications for the

security and prosperity of people around the world. Local populations that depend on wildlife,

either for tourism or sustenance, are finding it harder and harder to maintain their livelihoods.

Diseases are spreading to new corners of the globe through wildlife that is not properly

inspected at border crossings. Park rangers are being killed. And we have good reason

to believe that rebel militias are players in a worldwide ivory market worth millions

So yes, I think many of us are here because protecting wildlife is a matter of protecting

our planet's natural beauty. We see it's a stewardship responsibility for us and this

generation and future generations to come. But it is also a national security issue,

a public health issue, and an economic security issue that is critical to each and every country

We all, unfortunately, contribute to the continued demand for illegal animal goods. Wildlife

might be targeted and killed across Asia and Africa, but their furs, tusks, bones, and

horns are sold all over the world. Smuggled goods from poached animals find their way

to Europe, Australia, China, and the United States. I regret to say the United States

is the second-largest destination market for illegally trafficked wildlife in the world.

And that is something we are going to address.

Now, several conservation groups are here with us today, and we greatly appreciate their

invaluable work. But the truth is they cannot solve this problem alone. None of us can.

This is a global challenge that spans continents and crosses oceans, and we need to address

it with partnerships that are as robust and far-reaching as the criminal networks we seek

Therefore, we need governments, civil society, businesses, scientists, and activists to come

together to educate people about the harms of wildlife trafficking. We need law enforcement

personnel to prevent poachers from preying on wildlife. We need trade experts to track

the movement of goods and help enforce existing trade laws. We need finance experts to study

and help undermine the black markets that deal in wildlife. And most importantly, perhaps,

we need to reach individuals, to convince them to make the right choices about the goods

Now, there's no quick fix, but by working closely, internationally, with all of these

partners, we can take important steps to protect wildlife in their environments and begin to

dry up the demand for trafficked goods. So with these goals in mind, the State Department

First, on the diplomatic front, we are working with leaders from around the world to develop

a global consensus on wildlife protection. I spoke with President Putin, Ambassador,

when we were together at the APEC summit in Vladivostok. He has been a staunch, vocal,

public supporter of Russian wildlife. And I think it's fair to say his personal efforts

over the last years have made the lives of tigers in Russia much safer. There's still

poaching, but at least there is a commitment from the highest level of the Russian Government

to protect the wildlife of Russia. In fact, when I was in Vladivostok, there were posters

everywhere with tigers on the pictures on the lampposts and walls and everywhere we

looked, reminding people that this was an important issue to Russia and the Russian

Government. And I worked - I had the great privilege of working with President Putin

and the other leaders there to make sure that the leaders' statement that was issued included,

for the first time ever, strong language on wildlife trafficking.

Now, Undersecretaries Bob Hormats and Maria Otero have met with African and Asian leaders

to discuss the immediate actions needed to thwart poachers. Next week, President Obama

and I will personally bring this message to our partners in ASEAN and the East Asia Summit

We are also pressing forward with efforts to protect marine life. And last week, we

joined forces with New Zealand to propose the world's largest marine protected area,

the Ross Sea region of Antarctica. And we hope to gain support from the international

community as this important proposal moves forward.

We're strengthening our ability to engage diplomatically on these and other scientific

issues. Building scientific partnerships is an important tool in addressing such global

challenges. That's why I'm pleased to announce our three new science envoys, Dr. Bernard

Amadei of the University of Colorado, the founder of Engineers Without Borders; Dr.

Susan Hockfield, the former president and currently faculty member of the Massachusetts

Institute of Technology; and renowned evolutionary biologist Dr. Barbara Schaal of Washington

University in St. Louis. Are these three scientists with us today? Are they? Okay. But I think

it's working to create a scientific consensus and very preeminent scientists from across

the world speaking out that is one of the important steps that we are urging partners

Secondly, we are reaching beyond governments to enlist the support of people. As part of

this effort, Under Secretary Tara Sonenshine, our Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy,

is spearheading a global outreach campaign which we will launch December 4th on Wildlife

Conservation Day. Our embassies will use every tool at their disposal to raise awareness

about this issue, from honoring local activists, to spreading the word on Facebook and Twitter.

We want to make buying goods, products from trafficked wildlife, endangered species unacceptable,

socially unacceptable. We want friends to tell friends they don't want friends who ingest,

display, or otherwise use products that come from endangered species anywhere in the world.

Third, we're launching new initiatives to strengthen and expand enforcement areas. USAID

has already provided more than $24 million over the past five years on a range of programs

that combat wildlife crimes. Last year, they launched the ARREST program, which is establishing

regional centers of expertise and expanding training programs for law enforcement. We

really want to work with all of you, and we want both from countries that are victimized