The Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday hosted a workshop on wildlife crime which was conducted by Aaranyak with the help of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) at the Dhubri Sector HQ along the India-Bangladesh border.
Aaranyak informed in a statement that around 30 staff members of 41 Bn, 19 Bn, 31 Bn and SHQ of BSF attended the workshop. They said, "BSF, which guards the frontiers of the country, is one of such key agencies that can play an important role in checking wildlife crimes especially the trans-border cries."
The Legal and Advocay Division (LAD) of Aaranyak, under its umbrella initiative DETERS (Disrupt and End Trade in Endangered and Rare Species), has been organizing such workshops and awareness campaigns with various enforcement agencies and other stake-holders in order to raise awareness in wildlife crime.
Aaranyak, a biodiversity conservation and research organization, has been organizing these sessions with an aim to stop domestic and regional trafficking of wildlife products.
Commandant Manish Raj was present in the inaugural session. Dr. Jimmy Borah, senior manager of LAD, gave an in-depth insight of the wildlife crime in the region, compared to global perspective. He mentioned the importance of collaborating with various agencies to help in the fight against wildlife crime. He also highlighted the role of agencies like BSF in curbing illegal trade in wildlife and its derivatives.
Nabajit Barman of WCCB presented the ways to identify various wildlife products that are commonly traded in the region. He also explained how to detect and distinguish between fake and real wildlife products, according to the statement.