Indo-Nepal Join Hands To Combat Wild Life Trade

India and Nepal, two South-Asian nations has joined hands to restrict the illegal wildlife trade through the 1, 850 km long International boundary. Due to this open international border, wildlife in both the nations is in great danger.

In a recently held workshop on “Wildlife Enforcement And Law” organized by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and IFAW-WTI (International Fund for Animal Welfare – Wildlife Trust of India), at Dudhwa Forest Reserve of Uttar Pradesh, Wildlife Conservation Authorities of both the countries has recommended a trans-border cooperation to combat the illegal wildlife trade across the penetrable Indo-Nepal border.

This two day long workshop was attended by the officials of the Forest Department, Police and NGOs from both India and Nepal, and the Indian Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) responsible for guarding the Indo-Nepal border.

The major emphasis of the workshop was on the tackling of illegal trade through the International border of the two nations. The workshop has also taken into consideration several other important issues like wildlife trade in Dudhwa-Pilibhit areas, wildlife conservation laws of the two countries, ways to apprehend wildlife criminals and successfully fight court cases against them, identification of wildlife materials, CITES and its application and improved intra- as well as international cooperation.

According to the Ramesh Pandey, Deputy Director Northern Region, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, there is a general upward movement in wildlife trade across the border area. Wildlife articles related mostly to large carnivores, elephants, rhinoceroes are smuggled from India to China and other Southeast Asian countries with Nepal as a passage. He added that its become an urgent requirement to monitor the movement of the poaching gangs and tribals in the border area. Systematic invesigation must be done to ensure that the people involve in this crime must get proper punishment.

Other important outcomes of this workshop are institutionalised information sharing, development of common database of wildlife criminals and increasing awareness of local people on both sides of the border.

Ashok Kumar, Vice-chairman, WTI expressed his grievences in the workshop. He said that due to diplomatic restraints and lack of capacity, enforcement officials of both the countries faces difficulty to get hold of the illegal traders. As there is an open international border between both the nations, most of the time wildlife criminals skips from the hands of law.

Moreover he added that “ there is an urgent need for coordinated approach between authorities of the two countries to tackle cross border illegal wildlife activities. This was the aim of the workshop to facilitate coordination and understanding among relevant authorities across the border,”