National Workshop on Development of National Action Plan for Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation in India, October 13

13 Oct, 2020

The Indo-German Project on “Human Wildlife Conflict Mitigation (HWC)” in India organised an online national-level workshop on developing the HWC-National Action Plan (NAP) and Guidelines, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for HWC mitigation in India on 13 October 2020.

The workshop began with a welcome address by Mr Soumitra Dasgupta, Additional Director General of Forests (Wildlife), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) who stated the significance of timely completion of the National HWC Strategy and Action Plan, and species-specific guidelines and SOPs, that are being developed under the Indo-German HWC Project.

Dr Neeraj Khera, Team Leader HWC Project and Coordinating Lead Author (CLA), National HWC Strategy and Action Plan, provided an overview of the workshop and presented the strategy and action plan in detail. This was followed by brief presentations and status update by the Lead Authors and CLAs of different species and issue-specific guideline on the guidelines developed by them. They also received inputs from different experts from MoEF&CC, Forest Department, retired forest officials, wildlife experts, veterinary experts and disaster management experts. Brief presentations on the status of species and issue-specific guideline and SOPs- on Elephant, Leopard, Gaur, Nilgai, Wild Pig, Rhesus Macaque, Sloth Bear, Crocodile and Snakes, Medical Emergencies and Crowd Control- were delivered by Mr Ajay Desai, Mr Sanjay Gubbi, Mr P. C. Tyagi, Dr S. Sathyakumar, Dr C. Ramesh, Dr Sanath K. Muliya, Dr Lallianpui, Ms Naghma respectively.

The participants included 44 experts with diverse expertise and experience on policymaking, wildlife, social sciences, capacity development, disaster management, media, journalism and communications. Eminent institutions such as Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) and The Corbett Foundation (TCF), as well as independent experts on Elephant, Leopard, Sloth Bear, Nilgai, Wild Pig, Blackbuck, Gaur, Crocodile and Rhesus Macaque, participated in the event.

The workshop concluded with remarks from Mr Rakesh Jagenia, DIG (Wildlife) MoEF&CC, who stated the importance of the guidelines for the field officers and on working towards harmonious coexistence among humans and wildlife.

The workshop was moderated by Dr Neeraj Khera, Team Leader, HWC Project, GIZ.

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About the project

The Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation (HWC) project implemented by GIZ in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change aims at providing technical support at the national level, and effective implementation of HWC mitigation measures in selected states of India. The project pilot sites are: Haridwar Forest Division and adjoining landscape including Rajaji Tiger Reserve in Uttarakhand, Gorumara Wildlife Division in West Bengal, and Kodagu Forest Circle in Karnataka.

The main objective of the project is that the rural population in project areas, where agreed guidelines and tools are applied to mitigate human-wildlife conflict, is better protected against it. The project takes the approach of harmonious coexistence, by ensuring that both—human and wildlife—are protected from conflict. Read More

For more information contact: biodiv.india@giz.de