United Nation (UN) Environment India and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) of India, for the International Day of Biological Diversity, which was celebrated on 22 May, initiated an awareness campaign by the name of 'Not all animals migrate by choice' to be displayed at major airports across India.
The campaign was inaugurated by Dia Mirza, the UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador (and also UN Secretary-General's SDG Advocate), in presence of officials from Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Wildlife Crime Control Bureau of India (WCCB), UN Environment, UN agencies, and GMR Group.
Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is a statutory multi-disciplinary body established by the Government of India under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, to combat organized wildlife crime in the country.
Aim:
The aim is to raise awareness on illegal wildlife trade, to garner public support for conservation and protection of wildlife, prevention from smuggling and for the reduction in demand for wildlife products. It also complements worldwide action taken on illegal trade in wildlife via UN Environment's global campaign called Wild for Life.
WCCB and UN Environment started a comprehensive approach with a focus on awareness building towards the issue of prevention of illegal trade, smuggling of wildlife (and wildlife products) through exit points.
Phases of the initiative:
In the first phase of the campaign, Tiger, Pangolin, Star Tortoise and Tokay Gecko have been chosen as they are highly endangered due to illegal trading in International markets.
- Tiger is traded for its skin, bones and body parts
- Pangolin, the most illegally traded wild mammal on the planet is trafficked for its meat and its scalesare used in traditional medicines
- Star Tortoise for meat and pet trade
- Tokay Gecko in traditional medicine mostly into South East Asia and particularly Chinese Markets.
Phase two will see more threatened species and explore other routes of trafficking.
Need for the initiative:
Illegal wildlife trade drives a species to the brink of extinction. India is also seeing a sharp rise in its illegal trade in wildlife. There is an urgent need for awareness, action and stringent law enforcement to curb illegal wildlife trade which is threatening biodiversity and conservation in wild.
Conservation is natural to India's ethos. Although, while wildlife faces global threat and India's flora and fauna's demand continues to rise in illegal global markets, India's stringent provisions for protection of wildlife under its Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972, and efforts towards creating awareness among public at large would still have to go a long way to help protect our wildlife.