Stephen Kalema
President Museveni is today expected to present a call to action on at a conference on Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT). The President yesterday arrived in London for the international conference to be held at Battersea Evolution Conference Hall, Battersea Park, London.
It is a follow up of the Giants Club Conservation and Tourism Investment Forum that was hosted by President Museveni in October last year.
He will later hold a meeting with HRH Prince William, Duke of Cambridge at Buckingham Palace and attend a dinner hosted by the Giants Club.
The illegal wildlife trade is an urgent global issue, threatening some of the world’s most iconic species with extinction, damaging sustainable economic growth and the livelihoods of vulnerable people in rural communities. According to reports, its worth up to £17 billion per year and is the fourth most lucrative transnational crime after drugs, weapons and human trafficking.
The 2018 London conference will be an opportunity for global leaders to build on previous efforts, address the underlying issues that facilitate the IWT, and make steps to tackle this criminal trade.
In 2017, President Yoweri Museveni successfully hosted the first ever Giant Club Conservation and Tourism Investment Forum that attracted major global investors focused on responsible tourism and investment.
The Giants Club is an initiative of non-governmental organization Space for Giants. Its founding members include Presidents of Uganda, Kenya, Gabon and Botswana and it works to unite political leaders with enlightened businesses, conservationists and philanthropists in order to protect Africa’s remaining wildernesses.
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