Union Cabinet approved to adopt South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network

Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 13 April 2016 approved India for adopting the Statute of the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) and India.

It also approved India to become a formal member of SAWEN to strengthen ties with the member countries in controlling the trans-boundary wildlife crime through communication, coordination, collaboration, capacity building and cooperation in the region.

Objectives that were set to attain the goal are as follows:

• To take initiatives for bringing harmonization and standardization in laws and policies of member countries concerning conservation of fauna and flora;

• To document the trend of poaching and illegal trade, and related threats to the natural biodiversity within and across countries in the region;

• To strengthen institutional responses to combat wildlife crime by promoting research and information sharing, training and capacity building, technical support, sharing experiences and outreach; and

• To encourage member countries to prepare and implement their National Action Plans in curbing wildlife crime and to collaborate towards effective implementation.

Background

The South Asia region is very vulnerable to illegal traffic and wildlife crimes due to presence of precious biodiversity and large markets as well as traffic routes for wildlife products in the south East Asian region.

The collaboration in harmonising as well as enforcing the wildlife protection in the region is considered very important for effective conservation of such precious biodiversity.

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