Rt Hon Richard Benyon MP

DEFRA
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London
SW1P 3JR

23rd November 2012

Dear Richard,

I would like to express my support for the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) to continue to operate at or beyond its current capacity. As you will be aware, it currently only has funding until March of 2013. 

Wildlife crimes, and the illegal trade in items such as rhino horns, ivory, and shark fins, present a serious threat to biodiversity worldwide, and are implicated as a cause of further environmental problems due to the disruption to ecosystems. 

For example, the decimation of shark numbers due to the popularity of shark fin soup in East Asia threatens the stability of the marine ecosystem overall and the role it plays in maintaining a stable atmosphere.

Such trade is often also linked to the corruption of governments, and operates within networks of organised crime, destabilising societies and undermining the rule of law. 

The NWCU has been important in tackling the UK’s role in these crimes, by preventing the trade in illegal goods and thereby helping to diminish the international demand for illegal artefacts and creatures. 

The NWCU is also instrumental in tackling direct incidents of wildlife crime in the UK, such as the poisoning of rare birds of prey, badger crime, bat roost disturbance, salmon and deer poaching, and hare coursing.

Many of these have been outlawed for years but the legislation was virtually unenforceable until the creation of NWCU in 2006. 

Since its establishment, the NWCU has been able to provide specialist skills and expertise to the police, UK Border Force, HM Revenue and Customs, Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency, EUROPOL and INTERPOL. 

The need for this support has not diminished; on the contrary, with the internet playing an ever expanding role in enabling unlawful trading, delivering high levels of profit with little or no risk of prosecution, the expertise of the NWCU is in ever greater demand.  

I therefore encourage you to recognise the importance of the NWCU and commit to maintain its current level of funding, with long-term certainty, past March 2013, as recommended by the Environmental Audit Committee’s Wildlife Crime Report. 

I look forward to your response.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas MP, Brighton Pavilion

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