China to share intelligence with India on tiger poachers

CHINA-TIGER

K J M Varma
Beijing, Sep 3 (PTI) Under attack for not cracking down
on use of body parts of Tiger in Chinese traditional medicine,
China on Friday agreed to share "actionable intelligence" with
India besides nominating nodal officers for sharing of real
time information against poachers.
An Indian Environment and Forests delegation, which
held talks with their Chinese counterparts for the past five
days, left for home Friday on an optimistic note on Chinese
seriousness in cracking down to end trafficking on tiger
parts, officials here said.
"While acknowledging the poaching and illegal
trafficking of wildlife products including tiger body parts as
the biggest threat to wildlife conservation in the region,
both the countries have shown willingness and agreed to share
actionable intelligence besides nominating Nodal Officers for
sharing of real time information," an official statement
issued at the end of the visit said.
China has shown considerable interest in joining the
Global Tiger Forum, the only intergovernmental international
body working for Tiger conservation in the region, it said.
Indian officials believe that China's support for
Tiger conservation is crucial as the demand for Tiger parts,
especially bones is believed to be the main reason for
poaching of Tigers in India and other parts of the world.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had in January this
year blamed the growing demand for tiger and leopard parts in
China for poaching of big cats in India.
The Indian delegation said both the countries have
expressed willingness to share experiences and best practices
in the management of Protected Areas (PAs) including Tiger
Reserves, training and capacity building of PA managers,
scientists and technicians in use of modern technologies for
effective management of Protected Areas.
The two sides also stressed the need for collaborative
investigation into the backward and forward linkages of
wildlife crimes and deal with organised criminal syndicates
operating in the region.
"Organising joint awareness programmes on wildlife
enforcement to sensitise the personnel of various agencies
manning the international borders was identified a priority
area for cooperation.
"Both the sides were also convinced that bilateral
cooperation in wildlife matters needed to be strengthened
through regular periodic bilateral exchange of delegations,"
the statement said.
The Indian delegation headed by A K Srivastava,
Inspector General of Forests, held talks with a number of
Chinese officials from the Management Office for Import and
Export of Endangered Species and Department of Wildlife
Conservation, State Forestry Administration of China.
Indian officials said both the countries have given
their consent for the renewal of the MOU on the 1995 Tiger
conservation which calls for efforts on both sides to stop
poaching. The protocol gets renewed every five years. PTI KJV
RBT


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