Guwahati, May 26:  Premier biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org) as part of its sustained effort to deter wildlife crime at the grassroot level, has facilitated two back-to-back workshops in the frontier state of Arunachal Pradesh under its initiative DETERS (Disrupt and End Trade of Endangered and Rare Species) and in collaboration with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB).

The sensitisation workshops on wildlife crime were conducted on May 22 and 24 at Anini in Dibang Valley district and at Tezu in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh respectively, with participation of 80 persons pooled from Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), forest department, Arunachal Pradesh Police, village heads and members of local NGOs. The events also formed a part of the LiFE campaign of Government of India.

The audience at Anini were made aware about the impact of wildlife trade on global health as well well-being of human beings by Dr Jimmy Borah, a senior manager in Aaranyak.

The enforcement personnel were also enlightened on wildlife crime scene investigations and evidence gathering by Ivy Farheen Hussain, Project Officer of Aaranyak.

A hands-on session on proper identification of wildlife products was conducted by the WCCB team, which was led by Jawaharlal Baro, Assistant Director of sub-regional office in Guwahati and included Operational Assistance Nabajit Barman.

The Commandant of ITBP O P Sejawat highlighted the importance of such training sessions and the need of organising such training at a regular interval.

The training programme at Tezu in Lohit district was also attended by community members led by the village heads, self-help groups and village representatives.

Given that action-enabled awareness is required at the grass root level in the event of occurrence of wildlife crime in villages on the fringe of wildlife protection areas, the participants in Tezu workshop were enlightened on different ways to tackle wildlife crime as well as on their role to prevent such illegalities.

A technical session was also organised in Tezu workshop similar to the one held in Anini workshop for the participating personnel from the ITBP, Forest Department and Arunachal Pradesh Police.

Both the sensitisation workshops held in Anini and Tezu were attended by the respective Divisional Forest Officers of Arunachal Pradesh government, The DFOs provided generous support for the training workshops.