Member countries of the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) have adopted the 'Kathmandu Declaration' by consensus, to strengthen regional cooperation against illegal wildlife trade and the transnational organised crime tied to it.

Ministers and heads of delegation adopted the declaration on Friday, 11 September, the closing day of SAWEN's first general assembly in Kathmandu, Nepal. Bangladesh's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change announced it in a press release.

The declaration voices concern that illegal wildlife trade is turning into complex transnational organised crime linked to corruption, illicit financial flows, other serious crimes, the misuse of digital technology and weaknesses at borders. Member states put weight on intelligence-led and financial investigations, anti-money-laundering measures, asset recovery and effective prosecution, and pledged to strengthen information and intelligence sharing, coordinated enforcement and criminal justice cooperation.

It also calls for building capacity through science, technology, research and regional knowledge exchange to tackle wildlife crime, biopiracy, illegal access to biological resources and emerging threats, and for strengthening the capacity and safety of rangers, customs officers, police, prosecutors and other frontline staff. To cut demand, members committed to engaging local communities, civil society, academics, young people, women, the media and the private sector — transport, logistics, financial services, e-commerce and tourism among them — and declared 30 January SAWEN Day each year.

In his closing address, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Abdul Awal Mintoo said wildlife crime can no longer be fought by any one country alone; it is becoming organised, cross-border and technology-driven, and just as traffickers ignore national boundaries, the response of law enforcement must be coordinated across them. He called for timely intelligence sharing, joint investigations and coordinated operations, closer cooperation among enforcement agencies, and more attention to online wildlife trafficking and financial investigation.

The declaration also stresses bilateral and regional cooperation on cross-border wildlife crime and partnerships with international and regional conventions, organisations and development partners. Trafficking rings are active in Bangladesh's border forests from the Sundarbans to the Sylhet hills; effective regional intelligence sharing would ease that pressure.

Source: banglanews24