Illegal trade in wild flora and fauna is global in character and is second only to Drug traffic in magnitude. India is the home of many rare species of flora and fauna, which are sought after by the illegal trade. Our conservation efforts at great monetary cost have borne fruit and many species, which were on the verge of extinction, are reviving. But all this good work is being nullified by the acts of criminals indulging in illegal trade of wildlife and products.

Reports of the seizure of large quantities of wildlife products from different parts of India, particularly those related to Tiger, Elephant and Rhino would give an indication about the extent and ramifications of this crime. While we have adequate laws, actual enforcement has been feeble and has failed to make any impact on the crime. There is urgent need to pay attention to strengthening enforcement efforts to save our wildlife.

People in India love animals. Their religious ethos and social traditions prevent killing of wildlife. Survival of Black Buck, Elephants and Cobras are instances in point. People in general are not aware of the dimensions and methodology of illegal trade in wildlife and products and often due to lack of this knowledge, act as dumb spectators to the crime.

To preserve wildlife, a multi-pronged education and enforcement strategy needs to be adopted. The first and foremost step is to create an awareness among the general public about the need to protect wildlife. Right from the School stage and through a massive information campaign, people should be made aware of this imperative. Assistance of Media and the NGOs should be enlisted for this purpose.

Enforcement Strategies should consist of Education, Counselling, Visibility and Apprehension. Few in this country know, that it is an offence to kill a wildlife and to posses wildlife products like Tiger skins, Elephant Tusks etc. Many foreign tourists come to India specially to acquire these as souvenirs. To enable people to follow Law, it is necessary to give wide publicity to the Laws protecting wildlife. People are to be educated about these laws and the consequences of ignoring them. This would prevent people killing animals for pleasure and unwittingly acquiring wildlife products for display. Forest Officials should adopt a proactive approach and counsel people in the areas adjoining Forests and Traders about the need for preserving wildlife and the legal obligations to do so.

In our Country, Forest officials believe that to protect and preserve wildlife, they should close the Forests and should not allow humans to enter the same. This policy has been retrograde in effect. Forest Departments should actually encourage people to visit forests and during their interaction with the public, implant the message of protection and preservation. Wildlife Tourism should be promoted and encouraged by the forest officials. Once an individual enjoys the serenity of forests and sees the wildlife in their natural habitat, he would develop a love for wildlife and evince interest in their preservation.

To have the required impact, the protection and security arrangements in our National Parks, Sanctuaries and Forests should be visible to the common man. They should be devised in such a way that they are able to prevent killing of wildlife and to stop wildlife and products from reaching illegal trade channels. There should be effective control on the movement, storage and transport of wildlife products and stringent action should be taken against sales outlets. We can emulate the systems in African National Parks.

Killing of wildlife cannot take place without the knowledge, connivance and the indifference of villagers living in and around the protected areas. These people fail to pass on the information of poaching activities to protected area management staff mainly due to the lack of rapport, fears of reprisals from criminal elements and the feeling of animosity against the Forest personnel. This is due to severe restrictions imposed on the local population from having access and to utilisation of minor forest produce, which robs them of their basic needs for grazing, fire-wood, small timber and thatch for habitation, causing avoidable economic hardship to these people. Many of these restrictions have no scientific validity and a throwback of colonial forest administration, which was anti-people. A dynamic management aimed at positive people friendly protection efforts would go a long way in enlisting cooperation. Simultaneously, steps are to be taken to prevent depredation of crops and cattle lifting by the wild animals.

Physical security arrangements in many of our protected areas leave much to be desired. In many places they provide unrestricted access and there are hardly any checks on the ingress or egress. The field staff are neither adequate, nor equipped and trained to deal with criminal elements, who are now equipped with sophisticated modes of transport and weapons. Militants and politically violent elements have also encroached upon protected areas and there are reports that they look upon the illegal trade in wildlife and products to provide them with funds. There is no systematic approach to patrolling and hardly any schemes to respond to emergencies. Communication and transport systems available with enforcement staff are outdated. There is no motivation for the staff and hardly any coordination among various enforcement agencies including police at the ground level. Intelligence about illegal activities in protected areas is virtually non-existent and the staff are not familiar with the methods of collection and dissemination of intelligence.

Control over movement and transport of wildlife products calls for close cooperation with many agencies. At present, this is absent at the ground level. Surprise checks and raids on storage points, dealers and clandestine sales points also call for precision and coordination. The biggest law enforcement agency in the country, the police, are hardly aware of its role in combating this crime.

A high powered committee set up by the Government of India, a few years ago, to suggest ways and means to prevent Crime against wildlife, made many useful recommendations. These are to be implemented in spirit and letter. The committee has also stressed the need to establish a Central Task Force, collect data and to establish a wildlife crime data bank. It appears that no headway has been made in these directions.

Justice delayed is justice denied. Enormous delays by the courts in dealing with the cases of criminals indulging in poaching and illegal trade, have failed to produce any perceptible impact of judicial action on the criminals. There is need to establish special courts to expeditiously deal with the cases involving crime against wildlife.

Wildlife Management personnel are in need of specialised training in the handling of weapons, collection of intelligence, investigation and prosecution of criminal cases. They should be given special training to interact with environmental and wildlife preservation NGOs and activists in a positive manner and not to consider them as avoidable nuisance. Simultaneously, all law enforcement personnel are to be sensitised against this crime so that they could take prompt preventive and punitive action.

Protection of Wildlife is a National priority. This can be achieved only by involving people in this task through a massive awareness campaign and better enforcement of Laws.