7-Oct-2019: IFS officer Ramesh Pandey to be given Asia Environmental Enforcement Award by UNEP

Senior Indian Forest Service officer Ramesh Pandey has been selected for the prestigious Asia Environmental Enforcement Award by the United Nations Environment Programme.

The 1996-batch IFS officer, posted as Chief Conservator Forests in Lucknow and Secretary, UP State Bio-diversity Board, is known for his investigation and intelligence gathering on poachers. Pandey will receive the award on November 13 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.

The purpose of the Asia Environmental Enforcement Awards are to publicly recognise outstanding achievements by public organisations and individuals in Asia to combat transboundary environmental crime.

The central government had picked him as one of the officers to be part of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau at the time of setting it up. During his tenure at the Bureau, Pandey busted several tiger poaching gangs and ensured a strict vigil on the airport to restrict wildlife smuggling.

Pandey also introduced M-Stripes (Monitoring System for Tigers — Intensive Protection & Ecological Status), a novel software-based patrolling in Dudhwa Tiger Reserve on the recommendation of National Tiger Conservation Authority.