Before I head into an early evening meeting after a busy couple of days in the valley this quick post. In the image Pragati is interviewing Bishnu, a social worker and some street kids in an area where I once traced some bird traders. The traffickers used to recruit kids just like the two in the photo. The trade has been forced to be less visible due to the intervention of several groups and the Government does have measures in place evidenced by the high number of seizures of leopard skins and other wildlife parts particularly of late.
The Government is attempting to rectify the street kid situation, a chronic problem, people like Bishnu face serious challenges. Pragati is researching for a story on the situation, she's a journalist who fully understands the link between socio/econonmic circumstances and environmental issues. Pragati focuses on humanitarian issues as much as wildlife problems, her writing reflecting the difficulties of the marginalized.
I sometimes get irked when the amount of noise made globally about wildlife issues ignores the fact that poverty is such a crucial ingredient. There are high profile activists who only pay it lip service. Those people should join us in places like where we were yesterday, or in remote Himalayan village areas a long way from the tourist trails where being a hunter/poacher is a survival element.
Wildlife is always going to be under pressure if poverty is not addressed...
