SAWEN 2018 | South Asia Wildlife Enforcement

Table of Contents

SAWEN

• The fourth meeting of South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN), an inter-governmental wildlife law enforcement agency was in Kolkata, West Bengal (India) from
May 8-10, 2018.
•The two-day conference was attended by representatives of seven (excluding Pakistan) out
of eight member countries.

MEMBER

•Its regional network comprises of eight South Asia countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives.

MEETING

During the meet six proposals, including tracking of wildlife smuggling route, review of existing laws and a structure for the organisation were tabled.

SOUTH ASIA WILDLIFE ENFORCEMENT
NETWORK

SAWEN is regional inter-governmental wildlife law enforcement support body of South Asian Countries. It was launched in January, 2011 in Paro, Bhutan during the second meeting of the South Asia Expert Group on Illegal Wildlife Trade.

OBJECTIVES

• To take initiatives for bringing harmonization and standardization in laws and policies of member countries concerning conservation of wild fauna and flora;
• To document the trend of poaching and illegal wildlife 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 partnership with relevant institutions for research and information sharing, training and capacity building, and technical support; and
• To encourage member countries to prepare and implement their National Action Plans to combat wildlife crime and to collaborate towards effective implementation of such plans.

NOTES

• The third action plan comes after the first plan in 1983 and second from 2002 till 2016. The third National Wildlife Action Plan is unique as this is the first time India has recognised the
concerns relating to climate change impact on wildlife and stressed on integrating actions that need to be taken for its mitigation and adaptation into wildlife management planning processes.
• This plan was drafted by a 12-member committee chaired by JC Kala

ESTABLISHMENT OF SAWEN

• The concept of establishment of SAWEN has emerged and eventually realized through various initiatives in the past.
• A major milestone towards the establishment of SAWEN was marked during the 11th Meeting of the Governing Council of the South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP)
held in May 2008 in Jaipur, India.
• This ministerial meeting announced the support for the formation of SAWEN through the ‘Jaipur Declaration’.

MEETINGS

•The first meeting of SAWEN held in Sri Lanka in June 2012 and the second meeting held in Nepal in August 2014 further institutionalized SAWEN through developing and agreeing on the SAWEN Statute and developing detailed action plans.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

MAJOR CHALLENGE

•Underlining the fact that wildlife crime is one the major conservation challenges for the world, Man Bahadur Khadka, chief enforcement coordinator of SAWEN, said that during the meet six
proposals, including tracking of wildlife smuggling route, review of existing laws and a structure for the organisation were tabled.