Call to curb illegal wildlife trade
Call to curb illegal wildlife trade
Published: 12:00 am Nov 04, 2006
Kathmandu, November 3:
Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Poudel today said legal experts should work hard to curb illegal trade of wildlife and to bring the culprits behind bars.
Addressing a workshop on sensitisation of environment crime for judiciary and enforcement agencies, he said: “The legal provisions should be strong and flawless so that the criminals cannot escape. For this, the legal section should be in full alert and sincere to punish poachers and discourage criminal activities of this sort,” he said.
He also said that the legal professionals need more training and resource materials to understand the gravity of environmental crimes.
Shyam Bajimaya, the chief ecologist at the Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation, said it is difficult to detect and punish criminals related with wildlife trade because most of such crimes are organised ones.
“Coordination among the enforcement agencies is very necessary to see the effect of the legal provisions against wildlife trade,” he added.
Prasanna Yonzon, the chief executive of Wildlife Conservation in Nepal (WCN), sought cooperation from all sectors concerned to minimise the incidents of poaching and wildlife trade.