This report contains two Performance Audits i.e.

Habitat destruction and illegal wildlife trade (IWT) have devastating impacts on the populations of numerous wildlife species around the world. IWT is associated with the demand for wildlife and wildlife products from markets around the globe but primarily from Asia and South East Asia.

Over a ten-year period from July 2010 to June 2019 the authors found neither India nor Bhutan had reported any incidences of poaching or illegal trade in Red Pandas, but in Nepal a total of 13 seizure records were reported between 2016 and 2019, accounting for a total of 29 pelts. All except two took place in Kathmandu.

India’s proposal to include Great Indian Bustard, Asian Elephant and Bengal Florican in Appendix I of UN Convention on migratory species was unanimously accepted today at the ongoing thirteenth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) in Gandhinagar.

Southeast Asia, perhaps more than any other region, encapsulates the full range of global challenges facing the management of biodiversity and trade in wildlife. Political and socio-economic disparities are large.

A first-of-its-kind nationwide study of India’s birds has found that among the species for which long-term trends could be established, over half have declined since 2000, of which 22% were declining strongly. Among the 146 species for which annual trends could be estimated, 80% were found to be declining, with close to 50% declining strongly.

Around the world, it is estimated that one in three women and girls will experience gender-based violence (GBV) during her lifetime (World Bank, 2019).