S Asian countries join hands against illegal wildlife trade

New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) In a major initiative, seven
South Asian countries have joined hands to crack down on
increasing illegal cross-border trade in wildlife in the
region.
The decision to set up South Asia Wildlife Enforcement
Network (SAWEN), the first of its kind, was taken at the
maiden meeting of the South Asia Experts Group on Illegal
Wildlife Trade in Kathmandu recently.
One of the mandates of the SAWEN is to work towards
strengthening of wildlife law enforcement agencies to take on
the criminals who are adopting sophisticated methods to carry
out their activities.
At the meeting, the countries agreed to establish a
secretariat and an outline work programme for the new
organisation. Wildlife experts from Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka agreed to the
structure, functions and operational parameters for the SAWEN.
"After two years of constant efforts, finally this
major initiative has taken a shape to coordinate and cooperate
to effectively tackle illegal wildlife trade in the region,"
Samir Sinha from conservation group Traffic International
said.
The Nepal government has offered to host the SAWEN and
act as its interim coordinator while the Bhutan Government
will host the next meeting of the organisation.
"South Asia contains a range of habitats of global
significance that support a unique array of animal and plant
species... making the region a target for traffickers of
wildlife to meet the illicit global demand," Sinha said.
For instance, Nepal is not only facing tiger crisis
but is also being used as a conduit route to smuggle wildlife
from India, Sinha explained.
In the next six months, Nepalese coordinators will
assemble information and identify resources and expertise
from member countries to develop joint operations, training
programmes, communication plans and fund raising to enable the
network to effectively crackdown on wildlife trafficking
activities.
The three-day meeting was attended by representatives
from International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime
(ICCWC), including from ICPO-Interpol, the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime, and the World Customs Organisation
besides officials and NGOs from respective countries. PTI