Luanda — The Angolan minister of Environment, Fátima Jardim, Thursday in Luanda considered an imperative to combat poaching of large animals such as elephant and rhino, targeted by traffickers for ivory.
The official, who was speaking at the first meeting of the Interministerial Commission against Environmental Crimes and Wild Fauna and Flora, stressed the need for an urgent response to poaching, especially of elephants and rhinos.
Fátima Jardim highlighted that the sale of ivory artifacts will cease in the country in order to discourage animal killing and the consequent trade of its derivatives.
The minister recalled that the first meeting of the United Nations Environment Programme outlined action plans for the species, in which the elephant is considered the most important.
For the secretary of State for Interior, José Bamoquina Zau, it is urgent to create an operational technical committee to fight such practices.
In his turn, the secretary of State for Justice and Human Rights, António Bento Bembe, said that the Presidential Decree concerning the creation of the interministerial commission to combat poaching came out as a way to combat this illegal practice.