South Asian countries today stressed the need for collaboration on law enforcement initiatives through intelligence sharing to fight wildlife crime in the region including in India and Pakistan.
A three-day meeting of the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) which culminated in Kathmandu finalised a roadmap for fighting wildlife crime in South Asian nations.
"Strengthening transboundary cooperation and collaboration for intra-country law enforcement initiatives through intelligence sharing on poaching and trade trends, along with exchanging knowledge and skill for fighting wildlife crime across South Asia" was the unequivocal concern of the representatives of the South Asian countries at the meeting, said TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network, in a release.
The push from the SAWEN member countries places the region firmly in the spotlight of a growing international commitment to dealing with increasingly organised illegal wildlife trade networks as part of a broader strategic approach to combat trans-national organised crime.
"...The eight South Asian countries finalized and endorsed the SAWEN Statute and updated their collaborative roadmap for fighting wildlife crime in South Asia," TRAFFIC said.
"The Statute clearly details the vision, goal, objectives and the crucial role that SAWEN will play in combating wildlife crime in the region," it said.
The Statute, endorsed by member country delegates to the meeting, will now await the final endorsement from the governments of the eight South Asian countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
A number of international donors including the World Bank, USAID and the US Department of State participated in the meeting.
Expert input was provided by the international community in support of the eight member countries and the SAWEN Secretariat.
This included INTERPOL, the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), The World Bank, TRAFFIC, WWF Tigers Alive Initiative and WWF-Nepal.
