June 2017: South Asia Regional Steering Committee meets in Kathmandu

The 6th Regional steering committee of the South Asian Governments met in Nepal on 28 June. This was the second such meeting under the chairmanship of Nepal, which will pass next to Bangladesh in November 2017.

The chairmanship of the Regional Steering Committee was handed over from Mr Prakash Mathema (Nepal) to Mr Jahidul Kabir (Bangladesh) for November 2017.

Updates and representations were made for each of the four member countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan as well as by SAVE. Progress and challenges were discussed, and it was notable and congratulated that India and Bangladesh Governments in particular have stepped up their financial commitment to implementation of the regional Blueprint recovery plan to 2025 since the last meeting.

The meeting was chaired jointly by Mr Prakash Mathema, Secretary Ministry of Forests & Soil Conservation, Nepal and Dr TP Singh of the IUCN Deputy Regional Director, IUCN Asia. – the representative attendance and presentations for each country were by Mr Jahidul Kabir, CF Bangladesh, Mr Roy P Thomas, JD Wildlife, India, Mr Laxman Poudyal, Ecologist DNPWC Nepal & Mr Hassan Ali, Dir Lahore Zoo Pakistan, as well as Mr Chris Bowden of SAVE.