Dimapur, March 4 (EMN): A two-day training on “Combating wildlife crime and biodiversity conservation” for Forest and Police personnel got underway on March 4 at the Forest Complex conference hall, Forest Colony in Dimapur. The training is being jointly organised by the Nagaland Forest department, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) India, and Nagaland State Biodiversity Board (NSBB).
The Chief Wildlife Warden and chairperson of the inaugural programme, Ved Pal Singh, laid emphasis on capacity building of the frontline staff in terms of legal knowhow to tackle wildlife crime especially cross-border trafficking of wildlife products. He also highlighted the importance of jointly working with other agencies especially police for augmenting the available resources.
Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, YM Yollow Konyak, highlighted the close association of human beings on forest, wildlife, biodiversity and nature. He also touched upon the existing scenario of man-animal conflict in the state and need of awareness among all stakeholders for the cause of conservation, an update from NSBB stated.
He also expressed the need to adequately compensate the loss of properties and human life as well as create conducive atmosphere for conservation in the state. He appealed to all participants to concentrate on learning from different resource persons and implement learning optimally.
Satya Prakash Tripathi, retired PCCF and HoFF and chairman of State Biodiversity Board, has emphasised on the need for creating awareness among stakeholders for conservation of natural resources along with combating wildlife crimes.
Dev Prakash Bankhwal, retired PCCF (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden of Assam and WCS team leader, spoke on creating a sense of ownership towards natural resources and equipping the frontline staff to tackle wildlife crimes. He also appealed for collective effort from all law enforcement agencies for combating transnational wildlife trafficking.
Dr. Naeem Mustafa, deputy commissioner of police, spoke on financial implication in wildlife trade and gave background of wildlife crime control unit in Police department. He also assured assistance of the Police department in curbing wildlife crime.
A total of 50 personnel from Forest and Police departments are attended the training.
