Delhi: Nepali and Indian wildlife conservation authorities have recommended trans-border cooperation as an urgent requirement to tackle illegal wildlife trade across the porous Indo-Nepal border.

The recommendation was one of the several outcomes of the two-day workshop on ‘wildlife enforcement and law’ organised last week by the Uttar Pradesh Forest Department and IFAW-WTI (International Fund for Animal Welfare – Wildlife Trust of India). The workshop, held at Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, was attended by representatives of the Forest Department, Police and NGOs from India as well as Nepal, and the Indian Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) responsible for guarding the Indo-Nepal border.

With emphasis on control of cross-border illegal trade across the Indo-Nepal border, the workshop addressed 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.

Ramesh Pandey, Deputy Director Northern Region, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, spoke on the need and ways to stop organised wildlife crime and movement of wandering gangs. “There is a general upward movement in wildlife trade across this region. Wildlife articles, notably those of mammals including large carnivores, elephants, rhinos etc, are smuggled from India to sink countries like China and Southeast Asian countries with Nepal as conduit. Cross border movement of poaching gangs and tribals in the Indo-Nepal border will have to be monitored and investigated systematically to ensure that none of those involved go free,” he said.

Among other recommendations, the authorities of the two countries also concurred on institutionalised information sharing, development of common database of wildlife criminals and increasing awareness of local people on both sides of the border.

Nepal and India share a 1850 km-long international boundary, which is mostly unrestricted. Cross-border wildlife crime and operations of criminals through the Indo-Nepal international border is one of the menacing threats to wildlife in India as well as in Nepal.

“Illegal wildlife traders have easy access to safety with the open international border between India and Nepal, but enforcement officials on both sides of the border are generally helpless due to diplomatic restraints and lack of capacity, leading to wildlife criminals going unhindered on most occasions,” said Ashok Kumar, Vice-chairman, WTI.

“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 worshop… to facilitate coordination and understanding among relevant authorities across the border,” he added.