WNPS lecture: Raising awareness on illegal wildlife trade and biopiracy
View(s):This month’s Nations Trust Wildlife and Nature Protection Society (WNPS) lecture aims to shed light on the dark underworld of wildlife trafficking and highlight the need for collective action to protect our natural heritage.
‘Stolen from the Wild: confronting the crisis of illegal wildlife trade and biopiracy’ is the title of the lecture to be delivered by Samantha Gunasekara and Hasantha Kaushalya on Thursday, November 21, at 6 p.m. at the Lotus Hall of the BMICH.
The illegal wildlife trade is a high-stakes, clandestine operation that generates up to $23 billion annually and continues to grow in sophistication, often outpacing enforcement. Sri Lanka’s unique wildlife, including endangered species like pangolins and star tortoises, is particularly vulnerable to collection, poaching and trafficking.
Illegal wildlife trade devastates biodiversity, but biopiracy—exploiting resources through patents—adds a serious, emerging threat. The shift toward Digital Sequence Information enables entire genomes of
Sri Lanka’s unique species to be exploited, often without consent or awareness.
This month’s lecture presents a unique opportunity for the public and stakeholders to confront these alarming trends and take a stand against the exploitation of Sri Lanka’s natural resources.
This lecture features two of Sri Lanka’s leading experts on IWT:
Samantha Gunasekara, former Deputy Director of Customs, is a leader in wildlife protection, credited with establishing the world’s first customs biodiversity protection cell. He has led significant efforts in wildlife crime detection, initiated the Sri Lanka Customs Museum, and contributed to national conservation efforts.
As a World Customs Organization (WCO) accredited expert on Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT), Hasantha Kaushalya has led technical missions and training workshops for Customs authorities across Asia and Africa. Hasantha has also developed a comprehensive training programme to strengthen wildlife trafficking enforcement within Customs. His achievements have won him a the 2023 WCO Certificate of Merit for knowledge-sharing and the Wildlife Law Enforcement Excellence Award from the Sri Lanka Wildlife Enforcement Network (SLaWEN).
The lecture is open to all. Entrance is free.
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