Govt teams up to combat wildlife trafficking threat

Thailand has joined hands with southern African nations and South Asian countries to combat wildlife trafficking under an initiative called "South-to-South Community".

"Under this plan, we will share information, innovative technology and other resources to promote sustainable development in terms of natural resources and the environment. This is a goal that cannot be achieved alone," said Pinsak Surasawadi, deputy chief of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) told an international meeting on Wednesday.

The initiative was agreed upon at a meeting on combatting wildlife trafficking held in Bangkok last week.

The meeting was titled the "Bangkok Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation for Addressing Wildlife and Forest Crimes and Attaining SDGs" and representatives from 30 countries participated.

Under the South-to-South Community programme, three regional networks will work together to share information and technology.

The Asean Wildlife Enforcement Network (Asean-WEN) comprises countries in Southeast Asia which are targeted by traders in smuggled wildlife products, including from Africa and which are trying to cut down on the trade.

The Lusaka Agreement Task Force comprises eight southern African nations which have problems with poaching of wildlife and other items ending up in China via Southeast Asia.

The South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network includes South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan and Nepal and Bhutan which have also suffered from issues related to poaching and smuggling.

Edward Phiri, director of the Lusaka Agreement Task Force, said it is impossible for individual countries to fight trafficking alone, but the Lusaka Agreement Task Force had worked with the United Nations to map out the hotspots of illegal wildlife poaching in each country.

"It helped to create an effective patrol system to prevent the illegal hunting," he said.

Mr Phiri also said the task force has been working closely with Japan to develop a digital platform for communication between members and speed up the responses to reported threats.

Man Bahadur Khadka, director-general of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation from Nepal, said closer cooperation to suppress the wildlife trade is already underway in South Asian countries.

"This has involved implementing new monitoring systems using cameras, drones and GPS technology, while the new initiative agreed in Bangkok will provide a platform for countries in three continents to share best practices and information on their work," he said.