If you ask why we should protect wildlife
you are asking a very fundamental question
about human beings'
relationship with the natural world
and responsibility for the natural world.
And I would have thought that
almost anyone would think
wildlife plays an important part
in our lives and we have
a responsibility to care for it.
If that belief is not held by anybody
I don't know how I would start arguing about it
because it seems to me fundamental.
You might suppose it deals with living animals
but it deals more with animal products,
with things like ivory and elephant and rhino horn
and pangolin scales and so on.
Science and technology these days can help in
identifying where those products came from,
and can also identify them when they are perhaps being concealed.
We should be protecting animals
because they have a place in the world
and we have the responsibility of looking after them.
There are certain species of animal
which are in danger of extinction.
The reason why it would be terrible if the elephants are lost
is both moral
and philosophical
and they also play an important role
in the ecosystems in which they are found.
And if you remove elephants
you distort that ecosystem,
and it would be a disaster if the elephant disappeared.
There is no one solution because there is no one problem.
There are multitudes of solutions,
as many solutions as there are species.
Not enough is done clearly because
the illegal wildlife trade still flourishes.
And while it flourishes
then there is a problem.
