Minister appreciates Bishnoi community for wildlife protection

Appreciating their wildlife and forest protection initiatives, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave today urged the Bishnoi community living in North India to continue their efforts, saying they should not lose heart by any adverse situation.
Dave said in Lok Sabha that people belonging to Bishnoi community have been protecting wildlife and forest for ages, which has to be appreciated.
"I want to appeal to Bishnoi community, don't lose your heart. You have been fighting for the protection of wildlife and forest for age and will continue to do that," he said during Question Hour.
Asked about any action plan to check trans-boundary wildlife crime, he said Rs 9 crore as been allocated to the Wildlife Crme Control Bureau for 2016-17, besides financial and technical help to state/UT governments for the purpose.

The Minister said India has adopted the statute of South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) on April 13.
SAWEN is a regional network of eight South Asian countries -- Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka -- set up to provide a forum for development of regional programmes through networking, sharing and effective dissemination of knowledge and information with respect to combating illegal trade in wildlife, its parts and products.
"The statute contains the institutional arrangement for functioning of the network, its objectives and role of member countries. The statute has been adopted with the objective of strengthening the network and cooperation amongst the member countries in jointly combating wildlife crime and illegal trafficking in the region," he said.