NEW YORK, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Protecting wildlife is critical to human civilizations and sustainable development, a Chinese envoy to the United Nations said on Tuesday, calling for more efforts to combat illegal trade in wildlife.

"As wild flora and fauna directly bear on the health and security of global ecosystem and our common homeland, their protection is critical to human civilizations and sustainable economic and social development," Liu Jieyi, China's permanent representative to the United Nations, told a high-level event on illegal wildlife trade, which was convened by Gabon and Germany.

Liu called on the international community to step up law enforcement to combat illegal trade in wildlife.

"All countries must act together to fully implement the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and the relevant UN General Assembly resolution, and honor their obligations in this regard," said Liu.

China has been closely cooperating with African countries on wildlife protection, Liu stressed. "China has been working with South Africa, Kenya and others based on cooperation agreements to protect wildlife."

"To countries with rich diversity in wildlife species such as Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Botswana, China has provided container monitoring and wildlife protection equipment and personnel training," he said.

These efforts have greatly improved Africa's capacity building and law enforcement in wildlife protection, he added.