National Workshop on Development of Implementer’s Toolkits for HWC-NAP and Guidelines for Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation

09 Jun, 2022

To support implementation of India’s ‘National HWC Mitigation Strategy and Action Plan (HWC-NAP) and Guidelines’ a 2-day hybrid workshop was organised on June 7-8, 2022 in Delhi at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) jointly by MoEFCC and GIZ under the Indo-German project on ‘Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation’ in India. A consulting firm ‘DEVOPSYS’ is supporting the project in this process.

The workshop was inaugurated by Dr Sunil Sharma, Joint Director (Wildlife), MoEF&CC. He applauded the contribution of the Indo-German project towards developing a shared understanding of HWC amongst key stakeholders and highlighted the importance of the workshop to get cross sector inputs and determining the key steps to be taken by the field officers while implementing the HWC-NAP and guidelines. Dr Neeraj Khera, Team Leader, HWC Mitigation project, set the context by presenting the structure and purpose of the implementer’s toolkit and what could be expected from upcoming sessions.

On Day 1, the participants worked on developing the structure of the implementer’s toolkits for strategic priorities of HWC NAP, implementation and monitoring framework and guidelines through a process of intensive brainstorming and discussions. Participants worked in smaller groups on the overall structure and contents of each section, addition/merging/deletion of tools to be developed. The groups presented the initial structures and there were discussions on overall structure and contents of the toolkits.

On Day 2, the participants dwelled deeper on the current status of each tool, potential contributors to develop specific tools, a detailed process of alignment and consolidation of tools across different sections of the toolkit, agreements and commitments for the expert groups for editing/developing specific tools and confirmation on timelines. An important aspect of the workshop was inclusion of field officers from the project pilot sites who actively participated in the discussions and guided the group in aligning the toolkit for the best possible use in the field. The workshop was concluded by Dr Sunil Sharma, Joint Director (Wildlife), MoEFCC. He thanked the participants for their valuable inputs and reiterated the need for the implementer’s toolkit to implement the HWC-NAP and Guidelines.

Over 43 participants joined the workshop from the domains of policymaking, forestry, media, wildlife, agriculture, disaster management, veterinary, capacity development and communication.

Implementer’s toolkits will enable the responsible actors, especially the officers and teams in the field to implement the plans and guidelines in an effective and efficient manner. An intensive consultation process will ensure that all the requirements and capacity needs of key actors, especially the front-line officers with regard to technical details, conceptual clarity, formats and tools required for implementing the HWC-NAP and guidelines are effectively addressed by the implementer’s toolkits.

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About the project

The Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation (HWC) project is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and State Forest Departments of Karnataka, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. The project 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—humans and wildlife—are protected from conflict. Read More

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