UPSC Express

In Brief: Wildlife Crimes

• Section 2(37) of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, defines ‘wildlife’ to include any animal, aquatic or land vegetation which forms part of any habitat.
• Wildlife crime can be defined as taking, possession, trade or movement, processing, consumption of wild animals and plants or their derivatives in contravention of any international, regional, or national legislation.
• Two major wildlife crimes include:
  • Hunting & poaching
  • Illegal trade
• The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has included wildlife crimes in the list of Transnational Organised Crimes (TOC).
• In India, The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, is the umbrella legislation for wildlife crime enforcement.
• India is a signatory to CITES which regulates international commercial wildlife trade. (CITES is a voluntary agreement)

Issues in Wildlife Crime in India

• Important provisions of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 dealing with wildlife crimes include
  • Chapter VI A – Illegal Trade
  • Section 51 – Punishments for certain offences
  • Section 39 – Wild life is government property
• The conviction rate of wildlife crimes in India is very low.
• The main reasons:
  • Lack of uniformity among various states in wildlife crime investigation procedures
  • The techniques used in wildlife crime investigation are obsolete.
  • The most important challenge in wildlife crime investigation is ‘specimen identification’.

DNA Forensics in Wildlife Crime Investigation

• DNA fingerprinting as a tool for criminal investigation focuses on establishing blood relations, identifying criminal etc by matching DNA samples.
• However the use of DNA forensics in wildlife crimes is basically focused on establishing the identity of the species.
• Morphology-based investigations are not foolproof due to the time lag between occurrence and detection of wildlife crime.
• Thus molecular-level based DNA forensics will significantly improve wildlife crime investigation procedures in India

Way forward

• The Zoological Survey of India is developing a protocol for use of DNA forensics in wildlife crime investigation.
• Besides we should also have a standard operating procedure in wildlife crime investigation to bring in uniformity among states.

Related Topic

DNA Profiling Bill was passed by Lok Sabha recently.

• To understand science of DNA forensics and compare DNA forensics in general and in wildlife crime, click here