NOBEL Peace Prize Laureate, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on Wednesday gave his support to the fight against rhino poaching by signing the World Youth Wildlife Declaration (WYWD).
Drafted by young conservation leaders from 20 nations who attended at the first World Youth Rhino Summit held in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi game park last year, the WYWD is garnering thousands of messages of support from youth worldwide calling for greater efforts to end rhino poaching and all other forms of wildlife crime.
Part of the Declaration reads: ‘We do not want to be the generation that tells our grandchildren that we did nothing about it, and so we call upon global leaders to join us in bringing the illegal trade in wildlife to an end’.
Kingsley Holgate, founder of the Kingsley Holgate Foundation, and Sheelagh Antrobus, coordinator of Project Rhino KZN who organised the Summit, travelled to Cape Town to present the Declaration to Archbishop Tutu.
Tutu’s message reads: ‘You’re all fantastic. The rhinos are smiling because of you. They know they won’t become extinct. God bless you for putting a smile on God’s face.’
In the coming months, the Declaration will be presented to governments and international bodies including Vietnam, one of the main rhino horn consumer countries.
