The Parliament of Nepal has ratified the Statute of the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) on July 4, 2016. With this ratification, Nepal has become the third formal member country of SAWEN after Sri Lanka and India. Earlier, the meeting of the council of ministers had given endorsement to the Statute on July 6, 2015 to be ratified by the parliament.

The Chief Enforcement Coordinator of SAWEN, Mr Krishna Prasad Acharya praised the parliament's decision to endorse the SAWEN Statute. "By endorsing the SAWEN Statute, Nepal has not only paved a way for institutionalizing SAWEN as a regional inter-governmental organization but also reaffirmed its commitment to curb the highly transnational wildlife crime through a much needed trans-boundary collaboration" said Mr Acharya.

Nepal hosts the permanent Secretariat of SAWEN which is currently based in Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation since its launch in 2011. Other member countries; Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, and Pakistan are at the final stage of formally endorsing the SAWEN Statute.