IFAW LOBBY EUROPEAN UNION PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES
Calls upon 2024 European Union Parliamentary Election Candidates and voters alike to put environment on top of the agenda.
The European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium (Credit: IFAW Website)
BRUSSELS (Belgium) - As the citizens of the European Union (EU) will be heading to the polls to elect their parliamentary representatives from 6 to 9 June this year, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is calling on candidates and citizens to put environment on top of the agenda.
IFAW is asking candidates to publicly pledge their support for key environmental and wildlife protection policies and at the same time urging EU citizens to vote with the future of the planet in mind.
“This is a critical moment for citizens to shape Europe’s future. By supporting candidates who have pledged to put environmental sustainability and animal protection and welfare at the top of their agendas, voters can help transform the European Parliament into one that prioritises a sustainable future for people and animals,” says Ilaria di Silvestre, Head of EU Policy & Campaigns at IFAW.
“We cannot wait for action. From climate change-induced disasters to biodiversity loss and wildlife exploitation, the environmental challenges facing our region are pressing. These elections will have an irrevocable impact on the future of the planet and the people and animals within it.”
IFAW's call to candidate Members of the European Parliament emphasises the importance of prioritising key environmental legislation, fully implementing biodiversity strategies, combatting wildlife trafficking, and demonstrating leadership on global environmental agreements. Candidates are called to sign pledges affirming their dedication to these objectives through IFAW’s dedicated webpage: https://ifaw.org/eu-elections-2024
According to IFAW, elections are not only a celebration of democracy but also a time to show what people care about considering that harmful human activities are having devastating consequences on planet earth.
The organisation laments that Europe has suffered climate change-induced disasters in the form of severe flooding and wildfires, causing billions in economic losses, environmental destruction of critical protected areas, and threats to protected wildlife as well as pets and farm animals.
Practices like illegal and unsustainable wildlife exploitation, underwater noise pollution, bycatch of marine species, and deforestation have all contributed to significant biodiversity loss. The consequences of these actions ripple through ecosystems, affecting both animal and human communities.
The upcoming European elections are therefore being called out as an opportunity to put the environment and animals first with voters and candidates urged to safeguard the planet’s biodiversity and support animal welfare.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is a global non-profit organisation helping animals and people thrive together. IFAW is on the ground around the world including Asia and Africa to protect vulnerable animals like elephants, koalas, tigers, and more from poachers and illegal wildlife trade.
For instance, at the peak of poaching where poachers from Malawi and Zambia could kill elephants for their tusks and then avoid law enforcement by escaping from one country to another, in 2017 IFAW through USAID Combating Wildlife Crime Project worked together with local communities, private sector and government officials from Malawi and Zambia to find solutions that are now protecting elephant populations along the two Southern African nations border landscape.
Source: IFAW Website