Paro, Bhutan: Jointly conducted by trainers from International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), this workshop will initiate the much needed capacity building among enforcement authorities to deal with illegal wildlife trade. The participants are from the Bhutan’s Department of Forest and Park Services, Army, Police, Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority (BAFRA) and Customs.
Experts from IFAW-WTI will cover the entire gamut of wildlife trade control, international legislations and enforcement. Classroom and practical sessions will be conducted by Ian Robinson, Vivek Menon and Elsayed Ahmed Mohamed. With several decades of wildlife conservation, enforcement and trade control work behind them, the experts will also conduct practical sessions on identification of commonly smuggled wildlife goods in the region and various techniques used by the wildlife contraband smugglers in the region.
Karma Dukpa (Director, Department of Forest and Park Services) inaugurated the workshop on Monday. He emphasised the need for cross-border cooperation between India and Bhutan to counter wildlife crime in the region. He also mentioned that the wildlife crime is not a serious threat now, but a country with a rich biodiversity such as Bhutan has to ensure that the increasing demand for wildlife products from other countries does not become a serious threat to the existence of wildlife in the Bhutan.
“I am very glad to see that the promise which IFAW-WTI made during our meeting in April is fulfilled within a short span of time and I would like to take this initiative further”, Karma Dukpa said.
“The two workshops are the first steps towards achieving larger conservation goals in the region and this will be followed by the capacity building and equipping for the frontline staff in protected areas of Bhutan”, he added, referring to another workshop on Rescue and rehabilitation and conflict animal management that was conducted at the same venue by IFAW-WTI trainers on 7th and 8th of this month.
During the introduction session the participants pointed out the need for capacity building in areas like wildlife crime enforcement both at the domestic and international level to meet the emerging challenges faced in protecting the rich biodiversity of Bhutan.
The workshop will conclude on the July 14 when certificates to the participants will be awarded in the presence of Dr Pema Gyamtsho, Minister for Agriculture and Forests.
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