Govt preparing guidelines to reward people for providing information on poaching, trading in wildlife

The government is coming up with a set of guidelines on rewarding people with Tk 4,000 to Tk 50,000 for information on poaching and trading in wildlife, and on smuggling or collection of skins, bones, and teeth.

“This initiative is being taken to create public awareness to protect and preserve wildlife,” Environment and Forest Secretary Kamal Uddin Ahmed told bdnews24.com.
 
The law ministry is now screening the draft guidelines created in line with the Wildlife (Conservation and Protection) Law, he said.
 
A gazette fixing the amounts of rewards will be issued once the government approved the guidelines.
 
Welcoming the initiative, environment and wildlife experts, however, urged authorities to make ensuring the informant’s safety a top priority.
 
Recent media reports say that smuggling and trade in hides of tigers and deer, meat and horns of deer have increased, leading to a higher rate of poaching of Royal Bengal Tigers and deer in the Sundarbans and deer in other forests in Bangladesh.
 
Law-enforcing agencies are also arresting poachers.

A recent survey of the Forest Department has said that the number of tigers in the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, has decreased drastically, with only 106 to be found in the Bangladeshi part.
 
The environment and forest ministry on Sep 6 published the draft guidelines on awarding the people whose information would help to solve wildlife-related crimes.
 
The ministry has also sought opinions from 11 other related ministries and departments to finalise this guidelines.

The proposed guidelines say one will be rewarded up to Tk 10,000-Tk 50,000 for providing information regarding acts against wildlife inside the forests in breach of the law.
 
Among them, information regarding tigers will lead to Tk 50,000 reward, Tk 30,000 for elephant and crocodile, Tk 20,000 for deer, Tk 14,000 for turtle and snakes, and Tk 10,000 for birds and other animals.
 
Tk 8,000 to Tk 25,000 will be given for information about such crimes taking place outside the forests, propose the draft guidelines.
 
Tk 4,000 to Tk 10,000 reward will be given for information which will lead to stopping crimes without arrests of the criminals.
 
The rewards will only be given if the information proves to be useful in stopping wildlife-related crimes.
 
The government will not reveal the identity of the informant.
 
The Forest Department will return the reward money to the government if the informant fails to collect it within three months.

A recent survey of the Department of Forest said the number of tigers in the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, has decreased drastically, with only 106 to be found in the Bangladeshi part.

An expert in wildlife preservation told bdnews24.com that one person of Khulna had to flee his village home after helping the law-enforcers to catch some smugglers who were trying to smuggle tiger hides out of the country.
 
“Money is not the priority here. RAB doesn’t openly give their informant money. They pay it as they see fit. But an informer’s life will be at risk if his or her identity is made public,” the expert said.
 
“Lives get put at high risk after people get publicly rewarded for this kind of work.”
 
The expert suggested that these informers of wildlife-related crimes should be rewarded in a way that is different from the usual manner by which the law-enforcing agencies and government officials reward the informants of other crimes.

Chairman of the Dhaka University’s Department of Zoology Prof Anwarul Islam told bdnews24.com: “Bangladesh currently is ranked second in the list of countries with high rate of wildlife poaching, smuggling and related crimes.”
 
“Comprehensive measures should be taken to prevent such crimes,” he added.
 
Islam, who is also the Chief Executive of Wildlife Trust Bangladesh, said the issue about the guidelines was ‘sensitive’.
 
“These guidelines should be finalised after thorough discussions with everyone while ensuring that the informants will be safe,” he added.
 
Forest Department official Tapan Kumar Dey told bdnews24.com they were taking opinions from ‘everyone’. “These guidelines are being formulated to bring all the issues (regarding wildlife related crimes) under the law.”
 
The Wildlife Circle’s conservator of forests said the new guidelines will automatically replace the 2013 policy formulated for the same cause.

This year Rapid Action Battalion got the ‘Bangabandhu Award for Wildlife Conservation’ for its contribution.
 
Two individuals and an organisation were also awarded in three categories by the environment and forests ministry.