Stressing on people's participation to conserve wildlife, Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Friday that over five crore Indians are involved in protecting it.
He also said that India is playing a leadership role in management of wildlife through involvement of local communities.
"Five crore people living around national parks and sanctuaries are working as partners in environment conservation," Harsh Vardhan said here while informing on the upcoming Global Wildlife Programme (GWP) scheduled on October 2 here.
Supported by United Nations and the World Bank, the GWP, first held in 2015, involves 19 Asian and African countries to address the illegal wildlife trade.
The Minister also said that a 15-year National Wildlife Action Plan (2017-31), with a special focus on public participation will also be launched on October 2.
He said that the two day conference will act as a platform for knowledge exchange and coordination on the action taken on the ground to combat illegal poaching of wildlife and improve governance on wildlife conservation.
The participating nations are Afghanistan, Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Gabon, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Philippines, Republic of Congo, South Africa, Tanzania, Thailand, Vietnam, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Earlier, four similar programmes had been convened at Gland (Switzerland), Hanoi, Nairobi and Liberville (Gabon).
--IANS
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