Context

• United Nation Environment has awarded Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) with Asia Environment Enforcement Awards, 2018 for excellent work done by the Bureau in combating trans-boundary environmental crimes.
• India has been conferred this award second time in a row.

About

Why WCCB?

• It has been awarded under innovation category.
• Innovative enforcement techniques were adopted by WCCB which dramatically increased enforcement of trans-boundary environmental crimes in India.
• An online Wildlife Crime Database Management System (WCDMS) was developed to get real time data in order to help analyze trends in crime and devise effective measures to detect and protect wildlife crimes across India.
  
  

  W CCB It is a statutory multi-disciplinary body under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, to combat organized wildlife crime in the country. Headquartered in New Delhi, it has five regional offices at Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Jabalpur; three sub-regional offices at Guwahati, Amritsar and Cochin; and five border units at Ramanathapuram, Gorakhpur, Motihari, Nathula and Moreh. Under Section 38 (Z) of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, it is mandated to collect and collate intelligence related to organized wildlife crime activities and to disseminate the same to State and other enforcement agencies. It also assists and advises the Customs authorities in inspection of the consignments of flora & fauna as per the provisions of Wild Life Protection Act, CITES and EXIM policy governing such an item. WCDMS This system has been successfully used to analyse trends, helping put in preventive measures as well as for successfully carrying out operations such as Operation SAVE KURMA, THUNDERBIRD, WILDNET, LESKNOW, BIRBIL, THUNDERSTORM, LESKNOW-II along with other enforcement agencies resulting in the arrest of 350 wildlife criminals and huge seizures of animal species.

  Asia Environment Enforcement Awards

• These are given to outstanding individuals and/or government organizations/teams that demonstrate excellence and leadership in enforcement of national laws to combat trans-boundary environmental crime in one of the following eligibility criteria areas:
  • Collaboration
  • Impact
  • Innovation
  • Integrity
  • Gender leadership.

• 2018 Awards theme: fighting trans-boundary environmental crime

• The third edition of the awards (2018) is given by UN Environment in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, INTERPOL, USAID, Freeland Foundation, and the Government of Sweden.

Trans-boundary environmental crime

• It is a serious and growing problem in Asia.
• Illegal trade in wildlife is the fourth largest illegal trade globally (after drugs, counterfeiting and human trafficking).
• Asia remains one of the world’s largest dumping grounds for illegally traded chemicals and waste.
• Millions of tonnes of hazardous waste and harmful chemicals are transported to and within Asia, having disastrous effects for human health and the environment. Public officials and institutions/teams working on environmental enforcement issues are on the front-line of efforts to combat trans-boundary environmental crime.