Authorities are stepping up surveillance measures in Thimphu to tackle forest fires and illegal wildlife offences. The World Wildlife Fund Bhutan donated 43 CCTV cameras today, which will be installed in fire-prone areas identified by the Thimphu Thromde over the years.
According to the Department of Forest and Park Services, the locations have already been identified and mapped.
A total of 62 areas have been identified between Khasadrapchu and Kabesa in Thimphu. For now, the department will install 43 solar-powered CCTV cameras across 43 locations.
Officials say forest fires in Thimphu typically occur between April and mid-June.
Kinga Norbu, the deputy chief of Department of Forest and Park Services, MoENR said, “We have carried our hotspot analysis. Actually, we would be recording 62 cameras, if possible times 2, which would come to 124 if we are installing 2 opposing cameras. But because of fund deficit we managed to secure only funds for 43 cameras. So these will be used for, firstly for surveillance of that area so which later we will be distributing to all the ranger offices and Thimphu as well as some other offices where they will be monitoring through cameras.”
He added that the installation of CCTV cameras will support early fire detection and help collect evidence for timely intervention.
Moreover, the WWF Bhutan donated ten investigative toolkits and two recording tools. These tools will help in investigating illegal wildlife trade cases in the country.
According to the National Zero Poaching Strategy of 2024, most of the illegal wildlife offences now occur outside of protected areas, emphasising the need to strengthen surveillance in such areas.
The procurement of the equipment is part of the Countering Wildlife Trade Project of WWF, initiated in 2022.
Chimi Wangchuk, the project manager of WWF Bhutan said, “So far we have done a lot of conservation law enforcement awareness since the amendment of the Forest and Nature Conservation Act of Bhutan 2023 and we have been advocating on conservation law in the poaching hot spot by the Department of Forest and Park Services. Then also on building enforcement functions such as building knowledge, institution knowledge, and at the national level, we really had worked on enhancing the wildlife crime coordination mechanism.”
Since 2024 till date, 16 cases of wildlife specimens have been seized in Integrated check post across the country.
Singye Dema
