Nawalpur- Various stakeholders have highlighted a crucial role of youths in checking wildlife hunting and poaching.

Speakers said this at a programme organized at Devchuli municipality of Nawalpur to mark the World Wildlife Day with the ‘Forest and Livelihood: Sustaining People and Planet”. They called for youths to be proactive for the prevention and control of wildlife poaching and smuggling.

On the occasion, Chairperson of Siswar Buffer Zone Users’ Committee, Netra Bahadur Pandey said sustainable livelihood can be ensured with the proper use of forest and bio-diversity. He stressed the need to conserve wildlife as the ornament of the country.

Likewise, chairperson of Community-based Wildlife Poaching and Smuggling Control Youth Awareness Campaign, Dhundiraj KC said those involved in wildlife smuggling are in the age below 40. According to the data received from Chitwan National Park’s Crime Investigation Section, 90 percent people arrested on charge of their involvement in wildlife poaching are below 40 years.

Against the backdrop, the youths should be imparted with conservation literacy to mobilize them in the bid to prevent and control wildlife poaching. It may be noted that the Chitwan National Park administration has recently arrested those allegedly involved in the killing of a one-horned rhino from different areas.

Almost all the arrestees are under 40. Various programme including Narayani river side cleanup were organized on the occasion of world wildlife day. March 3 is observed as the World Wildlife Day as a way to highlight the central role of forests, forest species and ecosystems services in sustaining the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people globally, and particularly of Indigenous and local communities with historic ties to forest and forest-adjacent areas.

This aligns with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 1, 12, 13 and 15, and their wide-ranging commitments on alleviating poverty, ensuring sustainable use of resources, and on conserving life on land, according to UNESCO sources. RSS