The United for Wildlife (UFW) Conference was held in Buckingham Palace, London, on 15 March. The UFW chairman and prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, made the “Buckingham Palace Declaration” and called upon everyone to regard the prevention of illegal wildlife transactions to be a most urgent task. Yue Lei, the new first Chinese UFW ambassador and Senior Vice President of Sanpower Group, attended the conference.

Prince William noted that the situation of wildlife protection was very severe, but people could prevent the danger from deepening. The “Buckingham Palace Declaration” is an avowal that can seriously affect the state of wildlife protection. The 40 most influential global transportation enterprises including such as Air China, DHL and Emirates, signed the declaration and promised to share information and inform customs and other law enforcement agencies of incidents of poaching and the illegal transportation of wildlife and also to refuse to accept suspicious consignments.

Yue Lei, UFW ambassador and SVP of Sanpower Group, attends the United for Wildlife Conference.

Yue Lei, the first Chinese ambassador of UFW in history who officially took the post on March 9, was invited to attend the conference and discuss the cause of wildlife protection with Prince William, the UFW executive chairman Steven Blakey, and the Chief Executive of the UK Royal Foundation, Nick Booth. Prince William congratulated Yue Lei and noted that his appointment as an image ambassador affirmed both the recent investment of Sanpower Group, and his own commitment to projects of public benefit. Prince William also hoped that Yue Lei would be an influence in Chinese business and social circles and persuade international social as well as Chinese power to participate in projects and construction of public benefit.

The UFW chairman and Prince William exchanges wildlife protection ideas and suggestions with Yue Lei.

In October last year, Sanpower Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding, for the jointly launched Wildlife Protection Foundation, with British Royalty. In April this year, the first phase project, two African wildlife protection observation stations and training centres, located in Botswana and Kenya, will begin operations. Since its establishment, the foundation project has kept in close contact with the UFW. UFW was founded in 2013 and consists of a Royal Foundation which has joined hands with the seven most influential animal protection organisations. Current UFW ambassadors include many celebrities: two Royal Princes, David Beckham, tennis champion Murray, and F1 world champion Hamilton. Such prestigious names improve the awareness of the public as to how important the protection of the many endangered species around the world has now become.

Yue Lei noted that from now on, Sanpower will take action and actively invest in the field to promote and practice the idea of public benefit internationalisation. He said, “I will set myself as an example to others, take up the mission and contribute more ‘Chinese plans’ and ‘Chinese power’ to the protection of biodiversity and endangered wildlife.”