A high-powered team with the Commissioner, Environment and Forest has been mandated to study the worrying situation in the national park. 

The team comprising the PCCF (Wildlife) and Conservator of Forests would meet at Kaziranga tomorrow to take a detailed look into reasons behind a dangerous spurt in poaching of rhinos. On its agenda would be the task to identify measures essential to combat the new threats to the rhino population. Once the stocktaking is complete the team would be in a position to offer recommendations to thwart poaching. The team has to submit its papers by January 30.

The team is likely to endure pressure to come up with a pragmatic strategy because till today several letters and memoranda have been submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking high-level intervention following the most recent poaching.

The PCCF Wildlife and Chief Wildlife Warden Assam MC Malakar, who would play a key role in tomorrow’s meet said that the Forest Department would like to augment the existing frontline staff to provide better protection to the wildlife of Kaziranga.

However, there were difficulties involved as the department’s personnel were engaged in other projects. Finding spare personnel for the park would be a problem because a large number of them were engaged in the bamboo mission and elephant depredation among other work.

The other alternative is to go for increasing the sanctioned staff, but such a step would have to be the outcome of a long process. Significantly the sanctioned strength for Kaziranga has more or less remained same the time its size was 430 sq km. At present the park encompasses around 860 sq km and the number of rhinos has also shot up. Forest Department sources admit that the present spurt in rhino poaching requires better co-ordination among various agencies including the Forest Department, police, local communities and conservation groups. However, that has been difficult because of lack of a definite and comprehensive strategy and because of fund constraints.

It has also been stated that increasing availability of arms and ammunitions to criminal elements is contributing to rhinos being targeted in and around the park. Ammunitions recovered from fallen animals confirm that a wide variety of weapons is used by poachers, some of which could have been acquired from extremist outfits.

While wildlife crimes including organised poaching are assuming alarming proportions in the State, lack of understanding among the enforcement agencies about wildlife laws and implementation continues to be a major irritant in curbing the flourishing illegal wildlife trade. The current conviction rate of the wildlife cases is less than two per cent in the country, despite it having a stringent legal framework. Lack of in-depth knowledge and understanding of wildlife laws seems to be one of the primary reasons for this.

These issues came up for discussion at a workshop, ‘Indo-Bhutan Wildlife Enforcement Training Workshop’, organised by TRAFFIC India in collaboration with WWF-India, the State Forest Department and Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) at Bansbari, Manas National Park, recently.

The main aim of this workshop was to build capacity of the enforcement agencies to curb illegal wildlife trade and also to improve cross-border cooperation and co-ordination between the two countries on such issues.

“Illegal wildlife trade is one of the most severe threats to wildlife today. It has led to over-exploitation of the targeted species, to the point where the very survival of these species is becoming difficult. This has been well publicised in the case of tigers, rhinos, elephants, star tortoises and others,” a WWF-India official said. Officials from the Forest Departments of both the countries were present for the sessions. The training was attended by frontline forest staffs from all the ranges under Manas Tiger Reserve including Manas National Park and Orang National Park. About nine officials from the adjoining forest divisions of Bhutan including Royal Manas National Park and Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park also participated in the programme.

Training was imparted on the legal and technical aspects of fighting wildlife cases. The modus of training was case studies, group discussions and presentations. Ritwick Dutta, a Supreme Court lawyer, talked about the legal implications of wildlife laws and Dr SP Goyal, scientist from Wildlife Institute of India (WII), threw light on wildlife forensic. Sangay from the Nature Conservation Division, Bhutan, spoke on illegal wildlife trade-related issues in his country.

TRAFFIC, a joint global programme of WWF and International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN), whose mission is to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals does not emerge a threat to conservation of nature, has identified lack of understanding among the enforcement agencies about the wildlife laws and its implementation as one of the major gaps in curbing illegal wildlife trade.

“The efforts of these training workshops are focused on helping enforcement agencies sharpen their skills related to implication of wildlife laws. TRAFFIC India is also planning to bring in new tools and technology much required to combat the well-armed poaching gangs and to break the wildlife trade nexus across the regions,” the official said, adding that the training programmes and modules were tailor-made keeping in mind the needs of the target group.

The training ended with a field trip within the two trans-boundary parks, where the participants enjoyed the stunning landscape offered by Manas and also caught a glimpse of the abundant wildlife.

It is expected that the training would help forge closer enforcement activities between the forest officials of both the countries. The training is also expected to gear up the forest personnel in Manas in view of the Indian Rhino Vision (IRV) 2020, a programme aimed at restocking rhinos in the wild in Manas and bring it back to its full glory.

The workshop at Manas was part of TRAFFIC India’s nationwide programme. Over 250 officials have been trained through these workshops all over India last year.

Responding in unison to the recent deaths of rhinos in Kaziranga a number of leading conservation groups today urged the State and Central Governments to take all possible measures to curb poaching in and around the World Heritage Site. While viewing the situation in protected areas as grave, the groups stressed that urgent action was required for securing the future of the one-horned rhino especially in and around Kaziranga.

Representatives of Aaranyak, WWF India, Ecosystems India, Early Birds and Dolphin Foundation underlined the dismal protection conditions prevailing in the national park and stated that unless better protection was provided the fate of the park’s most notable species was sealed.

Issuing a stern warning noted lawyer Gautam Uzir said, “The time has come for both the State and Union Governments to initiate prompt action if they are serious about conserving the rhino population.”

Uzir, also a member of the State Board for Wildlife, highlighted the inadequate number of personnel in the park and said that many of those who were engaged in front line duties were unfit to discharge duties in strenuous conditions.

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