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Participants of a seminar on wildlife crimes for judicial magistrates, which was conduted on Oct. 14, seen here with resource persons and Forest officials.[/caption]
Dimapur, Oct. 15 (EMN): A seminar on wildlife crime was jointly organized by the Nagaland Forest department and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau of the Ministry of Environment Forest & Climate Change on Oct. 14. The programme was conducted in the conference hall of the Forest office complex in Dimapur, a press release from the organisers informed on Sunday.
Seventy officers including judicial magistrates, judges, public prosecutors, police officers, and Forest department officials attended the event.
The principal secretary for Environment, and Forest & Climate Change L Kire was the chief guest of the event. In his address, he highlighted the importance of wildlife and forest ‘for ecological, water and food security and emphasised the need of creating awareness for wildlife conservation at grass-root level with the involvement of all stakeholders.’
Also, I Panger Jamir, principal chief conservator of Forests and the head of the Forest Force of the state addressed the event. He quoted from the Bible that Man was created for protection and conservation of wildlife and nature as its custodian. He appealed to all stakeholders to make efforts toward the protection of wildlife resources.
Agni Mitra, the regional deputy director of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change gave a presentation highlighting the genesis and ‘modus operandi of wildlife crimes’ in the north-eastern region in general and Nagaland in particular, the updates stated.
The sensitization program began with Dr KK Sharma, the additional director of the WCCB, giving made a presentation on various provisions and sections of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.
Agni Mitra highlighted the various judgements delivered by the Supreme Court, high courts, and session courts in different parts of the country.
There had been excellent interaction among participants and questions raised by judicial magistrates and public prosecutors were replied by WCCB / Nagaland Forest department officials.
The chief guest of the valedictory session, Imtienla Ao, secretary for Environment Forest & Climate Change addressed the event. In her speech she spoke about how the cultural tradition of hunting wild animals, and the Article 371A had been a hindrance for the effective control of wildlife crimes. She informed that under the wildlife wing, a post for ‘DCF’ was being created in ‘cadre review’ to look after wildlife crime issues. Also, a wildlife range for Wokha would be created soon.
A number of recommendations from the programme were presented by YM Jami CF, NTC Mokokchung and director of Intanki National Park: spread awareness among the people about the importance of wildlife and implications of the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 for its effectiveness; coordinate with other enforcement departments, the police and the judiciary to curb wildlife crime.
Further, another recommendation stated that in order to assist wildlife crime control personnel in detecting wildlife offences, local informers may be engaged.
The recommendation also stated that a full-fledged ‘DCF’ may be posted to ‘effectively control wildlife crimes.’ Likewise, the department should organise more seminars in collaboration with the Nagaland Legal Service Authority, the recommendation added.
