GUWAHATI, March 15 – TRAFFIC-India Head Samir Sinha today advocated an integrated approach taking into account the different constraints of conservation for dealing effectively with wildlife crime which was gaining in dimension every passing year. “Wildlife crime is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that needs a matching response at different levels. From enforcement of the law to equipping and motivating the forest guard to addressing the livelihood concerns of the forest fringe area inhabitants, we need to implement an integrated policy,” Sinha said while talking to The Assam Tribune at the conclusion of a two-day ‘Orientation programme in wildlife for the judiciary.’
Terming wildlife crime as an organised trans-national phenomenon, Sinha said that the emerging trends of the crime in the 21st century had confirmed it as a global challenge and made it imperative that it needed to be viewed as a crime against society. He also felt that the response from the authorities to meet the challenge still had a lot to be desired.
“No doubt, some urgency has been evident in our approach and strategy to deal with the menace, but this is still short of what is required. We now have a Wildlife Crime Control Board, and the States too have been empowered, but many problem areas persist,” he said.
According to Sinha, the general tendency of the authorities to restrict their attention to protected areas (i.e., national parks and wildlife sanctuaries) vis-à-vis combating wildlife crime should change.
“We have vast areas under reserve forests that still constitute prime wildlife habitat sheltering diverse species. There is an urgent need to accord protection to these forests,” he said, adding that this need for a shift in focus is necessitated not just by growing wildlife crimes but by the larger perspectives of conservation as a whole.
Another area requiring a shift in focus is poaching of lesser animals. “Any act of wildlife crime involving larger species like the tiger, rhino or elephant hogs all the limelight, which is understandable. But at the same time, unabated poaching of smaller animals, besides smuggling of medicinal plants, etc., hardly get the desired focus,” he said.
The most commonly known products in illegal wildlife trade in India included tiger and leopard claws, bones, skins, whiskers, elephant tusks, rhino horns, deer antlers, turtle shells, musk pods, bear biles, mongoose hair, snakeskin, etc., besides medicinal plants, timber and caged birds such as parakeets, mynah and munias.
