Parliament on Monday ratified the Statue of the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN), a regional inter-governmental network formed to combat trans-boundary wildlife crime.

The meeting of the Legislature-Parliament approved the proposal submitted by the Minister for Forest and Soil Conservation Agni Prasad Sapkota.

The SAWEN aims to strengthen network within the eight member countries to combat increasing wildlife crime through better communication, coordination, capacity building and collaboration among the concerned bodies.

Considering that the illegal wildlife crime is taking a form of trans-national organised crime, threatening the existence of endangered and other important wildlife in

the region, the governments from eight countries—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka—had in 2011 decided to form the network. Its secretariat was set up in Kathmandu the same year.

However, due to lack of interest from the respective governments to ratify the statue and become a formal member of the network, it had largely remained inactive.

Nepal is considered a transit hub for illegal wildlife trade via India to China.

“The ratification of the statue was a must to make the network work more effectively to curb wildlife crime within the country and beyond,” said Minister Sapkota at the meeting. Nepal is the third country to ratify the statute after Sri Lanka and India.

In April this year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the approval for the adoption of the statute in India.

According to Maheshwar Dhakal, deputy director general at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, the statue should be ratified by at least four out of eight member countries for it to come into effect. Bhutan and Bangladesh are working at the ministerial level, he added.

 “This is a positive initiative taken by the government to strengthen the institutional response towards controlling wildlife crime,” said Dhakal.

“The network would work as a common forum for the member countries to work to protect wildlife that are under serious threat from poaching and illegal trade.”

Experts complete sample collection, bar-coding of wildlife parts

BHARATPUR: A team of wildlife experts has completed sample collection and bar-coding of seized wildlife parts in Chitwan district.

Chief Conservation Officer of Chitwan National Park Ram Chandra Kandel said they had put the samples using silica gel in a glass jar. “The team have already returned Kathmandu after completing the managerial works,” he said.

The team has separately kept five rhino horns with their proper identities for further investigations. According to the CNP, the team collected 360 rhino horns, 69 tiger hides, 185 wild elephant teeth, 493 leopard hides, 36 hides of swamp deer and 111 parts of other animals. “The team is expected to release a report in a few days. A Cabinet meeting will decide on ways to manage the seized wildlife parts after the team submits the report,” said Kandel.   

The team had initiated works on managing the wildlife parts 11 days ago. Experts from the National Forensic Science Laboratory, the Central Investigation Bureau of Nepal Police, the Natural History Museum, the Department of Forest, the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, the National Trust for Nature Conservation have been involved in the project. The wildlife parts that are kept at the Central Storage Centre in Kasara and the Armed Forest Guard Training Centre in Tikauli.

It is after 19 years that the concerned authorities have taken an initiative to manage the seized wildlife parts.