Wildlife Conservation Trust

Last updated
Wildlife Conservation Trust
Formation2002
FounderHemendra Kothari
Type Non-governmental organization
Purpose Wildlife Conservation
Headquarters Mumbai
Location
LeaderDr. Anish Andheria
Website https://www.wildlifeconservationtrust.org/

Wildlife Conservation Trust [1] (WCT) is an Indian not-for-profit organisation based in Mumbai which was registered in 2002. WCT currently works in and around 160 protected areas across 23 states in India and works closely with government bodies, [2] corporates, communities and local NGOs through funding and technical support, knowledge partnering and consultancy.

Contents

WCT's core areas of work focus on application of conservation methodologies on the ground; conservation research; understanding behaviour of people who live in and around forests to understand the inter-relation between them and the natural ecosystems; human-wildlife interface management; [3] building capacity of the forest department in wildlife law enforcement and forensics; conservation education; livelihoods; health of frontline forest staff [4] and road ecology. [5]

History

WCT was registered in the year 2002. For the first seven years it operated as a family trust, making donations to various tiger reserves to strengthen protection of those parks. In September 2009, an office was set up and subject matter experts were hired to run on-ground projects.

Members

Hemendra Kothari [6] is the Founder, Chairman and Trustee of the Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Hemendra Kothari Foundation. He is the former President of the Bombay Stock Exchange and founded DSP Financial Consultants Limited which later became DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd. He is currently the Chairman of DSP Investment Managers Private Limited. Dr. Anish Andheria, [7] a Carl Zeiss Conservation Awardee is the President of the Wildlife Conservation Trust. He is a large carnivore biologist and a wildlife photographer of repute. Hemendra Kothari, Bittu Sahgal, [8] [ circular reference ] Aditi Kothari Desai and Shuchi Kothari are the trustees of WCT. The advisory board of WCT comprises Mr. Subramaniam Ramodarai, Naina Lal Kidwai, Amit Chandra, Prashant Trivedi, Dereck Joubert, Thomas Kaplan, Alok Kshirsagar and Anshu Jain.

WCT's Work

Conservation Research

WCT’s Conservation Research division executes on-ground activities mainly in the Central Indian Landscape [9] to collect scientific data. WCT’s wildlife biologists are engaged in monitoring tigers outside Protected Areas and undertake camera trapping to assist the Forest Department to estimate the number of tigers and lesser known species both within and outside Protected Areas. WCT’s intensive studies on genetics and landscape ecology have provided substantial evidence for the need to safeguard corridors and forest patches outside the Protected Areas for the long-term survival of tigers and their prey. Apart from monitoring tigers, the division is also engaged in Eurasian otter ecology, [10] hydrology, Indian pangolin ecology, [11] and large carnivore distribution and occupancy studies [12] in central India and the Western Ghats.

Wildlife Conservation Trust - Save Our Tigers Wildlife Conservation Trust - Save Our Tigers.jpg
Wildlife Conservation Trust - Save Our Tigers

Conservation Behaviour

WCT’s Conservation Behaviour division undertakes in-depth studies that help chart evidence-driven interventions for community engagement in conservation. Using a multi-disciplinary framework, including economics, [13] psychology, [14] and sociology, the team evaluates and compares existing policies and practices, assesses their impact, and drafts white papers that suggest optimal measures grounded in contemporary public policy design models. WCT has partnered with Google Research India [15] on its AI for Social Good research programme for predicting human-wildlife conflict in the state of Maharashtra using AI.

Road Ecology

WCT’s Road Ecology division studies linear infrastructure projects and undertakes policy-level interventions [16] for the creation of mitigation measures needed to minimise damage to wildlife and natural habitats from such projects.

Conservation Dogs Unit

The Conservation Dogs Unit (CDU) comprises, at the moment, four specially trained working dogs [17] to carry out varied tasks related to detection of target species or indirect evidences left behind by wildlife or wildlife poachers, and a well-trained staff which works in tandem with these dogs. The olfactory capabilities of dogs aid in ongoing conservation efforts and investigations. The CDU assists other verticals of WCT in human-wildlife interface management, conservation research, road ecology surveys, disease surveillance, and wildlife law enforcement. The CDU also assists Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh Forest Departments on request.

Health

Lack of access to affordable quality healthcare for frontline forest staff, coupled with the remoteness of their work place, is an area of grave concern. WCT’s Health division has designed the ‘Caring for Conservators’ programme and Trauma Management Training [18] to extend expert clinical healthcare [19] to frontline forest staff. WCT works with state health departments to develop strategies aimed to improve access to primary health care facilities for forest staff working in Protected Areas.

Freshwater Ecosystems

WCT, through its Riverine Ecosystems And Livelihoods (REAL) Programme [20] and Programme Makara, is conducting a long-term study on the ecology of the endangered Ganges river dolphin [21] and the critically endangered gharial, and the impact of capture fisheries and other human activities on the riverine ecosystems in the Gangetic Plains and central India. WCT is working closely with several communities, state Forest Departments and other government agencies, NGOs, organisations, and individuals on the ground.

Important positions held by WCT

Awards

WCT won the UNDP Mahatma Award for Biodiversity 2023 [25] for its flagship ‘Heater of Hope’ project which involves the development and distribution of energy-efficient, biomass-fueled water heater in thousands of households situated within the tiger corridor in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district to reduce people's dependency on firewood, thereby arresting forest degradation; reduce human-wildlife conflict; ease women's workload and decrease their exposure to harmful smoke from the traditional wood-fired stove; and reduce CO2 emissions.

Related Research Articles

In-situ conservation is the on-site conservation or the conservation of genetic resources in natural populations of plant or animal species, such as forest genetic resources in natural populations of tree species. This process protects the inhabitants and ensures the sustainability of the environment and ecosystem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satpura Range</span> Hill range in central India

The Satpura Range is a range of hills in central India. The range rises in eastern Gujarat running east through the border of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and ends in Chhattisgarh. The range parallels the Vindhya Range to the north, and these two east–west ranges divide Indian Subcontinent into the Indo-Gangetic plain of northern India and the Deccan Plateau of the south. The Narmada River originates from north-eastern end of Satpura in Amarkantak, and runs in the depression between the Satpura and Vindhya ranges, draining the northern slope of the Satpura range, running west towards the Arabian Sea. The Tapti River originates in the eastern-central part of Satpura, crossing the range in the center and running west at the range's southern slopes before meeting the Arabian Sea at Surat, draining the central and southern slopes of the range. Multai, the place of Tapti river origin is located about 465 kilometer far, south-westerly to Amarkantak, separated across by the hill range. The Godavari River and its tributaries drain the Deccan plateau, which lies south of the range, and the Mahanadi River drains the easternmost portion of the range. The Godavari and Mahanadi rivers flow into the Bay of Bengal. At its eastern end, the Satpura range meets the hills of the Chotanagpur Plateau. The Satpura Range is a horst mountain and is flanked by Narmada Graben in the north and much smaller but parallel Tapi Graben in the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Satpura Tiger Reserve</span> National park in India

Satpura Tiger Reserve (STR) also known as Satpura National Park is located in the Narmadapuram district of Madhya Pradesh in India. Its name is derived from the Satpura range. It covers an area of 524 km2 (202 sq mi). Satpura National Park, along with the adjoining Bori and Pachmarhi wildlife sanctuaries, provides 2,200 km2 (850 sq mi) of unique central Indian highland ecosystem. It was set up in 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vansda National Park</span> National park in Gujarat, India

Vansda National Park, also known as Bansda National Park, is a protected area which represents the thick woodlands of the Dangs and southern Gujarat, and is situated in the Vansda tehsil, Navsari District of Gujarat state, India. Riding on the banks of Ambika River and measuring roughly 24 km2 in area, the park lies about 65 km east of the town of Chikhali on the National Highway 48, and about 80 km northeast of the city of Valsad. Vansda, the town from which the name of the park is derived, is an important trading place for the surrounding area where the majority of the population is represented by adivasis. Vansda-Waghai state highway runs through the park, so does the narrow gauge rail link connecting Waghai to Billimora.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife Trust of India</span>

The Wildlife Trust of India is an Indian nature conservation organisation under Ministry of Forest Department, Government of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Private protected areas of India</span>

Private protected areas of India refer to protected areas inside India whose land rights are owned by an individual or a corporation / organization, and where the habitat and resident species are offered some kind of protection from exploitative activities like hunting, logging, etc. The Government of India did not provide any legal or physical protection to such entities, but in an important amendment introduced by the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act of 2002, has agreed to protect communally owned areas of ecological value.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife Institute of India</span> Indian government institute

The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is an autonomous natural resource service institution established in 1982 under the Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate change, Government of India. WII carries out wildlife research in areas of study like Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Wildlife Policy, Wildlife Management, Wildlife Forensics, Spatial Modeling, Ecodevelopment, Ecotoxicology, Habitat Ecology and Climate Change. WII has a research facility which includes Forensics, Remote Sensing and GIS, Laboratory, Herbarium, and an Electronic Library. The founder director was V. B. Saharia while the first director was Hemendra Singh Panwar who remained the director from 1985 to 1994. Trained personnel from WII have contributed in studying and protecting wildlife in India. The national tiger census or the All India Tiger Estimation, is done by WII along with NTCA and state forest departments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conservation areas of India</span>

Conservation Areas in India refer to well-demarcated large geographical entities with an established conservation plan, and were part of a joint Indo-US project on "landscape management and protection". The project ran from 1996 to 2002. These areas are home to many Conservation reliant species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pench Tiger Reserve</span> Tiger Reserve in Central India

Pench Tiger Reserve or Pench National Park is one of the premier tiger reserves of India and the first one to straddle across two states - Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The reference to Pench is mostly to the tiger reserve in Madhya Pradesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wildlife of Bhutan</span>

The Kingdom of Bhutan is a small, landlocked nation nestled in the southern slopes of the Eastern Himalaya. To its north lies the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and to the west, south and east lies the Indian states of Sikkim, Bengal, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

Bhopal is the capital of Madhya Pradesh state of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary</span> Wildlife sanctuary in Goa, India

The Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary is a 208.5-km2 (80.5-mi2) protected area in the Indian state of Goa in the Western Ghats of South India. It is located in the North Goa District, Sattari taluka near the town of Valpoi. The sanctuary is an area of high biodiversity, and is being considered to become a Project Tiger tiger reserve because of the presence of Bengal tigers.

Shoolpaneshwar Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area in India's Gujarat state, located in the western Satpura Range south of the Narmada River and is 607.7 km2 (234.6 sq mi) large. It shares a common boundary with Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. It encompasses mixed dry deciduous forest, riverine forest, few pockets of moist teak forest, agricultural fields and two water reservoirs. It was established in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandra Prakash Kala</span> Indian ecologist and professor

Chandra Prakash Kala is an Indian ecologist and professor. His research interests include alpine ecology, conservation biology, indigenous knowledge systems, ethnobotany and medicinal aromatic plants. He is an assistant professor in the faculty area of Ecosystem and Environment Management at the Indian Institute of Forest Management.

The Yawal Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected area located within the Yawal Tehsil of the Jalgaon district of Maharashtra, India, at the banks of the Anner and Manjar rivers and at the border of Madhya Pradesh. The sanctuary covers an area of approximately 176 km2 (68 sq mi) and is characterized by its extensive dense forest coverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dumna Nature Reserve Park</span> Ecotourism site in Madhya Pradesh, India

The Dumna Nature Reserve (DNR) is an ecotourism site near Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. Operated by Jabalpur Municipal Corporation is, it is spread over nearly 1800 acres of forested land on a plateau, about 40 meters above Jabalpur town. It was transferred to the Municipal Committee of Jubbulpore by the provincial government to act as the catchment area for the Khandari lake. The construction of Khandari Dam materialized in February 1883 under J.H. Morris, Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces and Berar. Since then, the forested area provides rainwater to feed the Khandari Reservoir. The place, along with Lower Gaur forest, is described in Captain James Forsyth’s ‘Highlands of Central India’ as a favored place for tiger shoots for British officers.

Hemendra Singh Panwar is an Indian conservationist and civil servant, known for his efforts in the fields of wildlife and conservation. He was the first director of the Wildlife Institute of India and was the director of Project Tiger. The Government of India honoured him, in 2013, with Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award, for his services to the environment and conservation.

Sanctuary Nature Foundation is an Indian nonprofit foundation that was founded in 2015 building on the work of Sanctuary Asia, a wildlife magazine that was launched in 1981 by Bittu Sahgal. Its network of conservationists, naturalists, scientists, writers and photographers run various projects in environmental policy, advocacy, science, on-ground support, wildlife habitat management and more. The foundation also holds annual awards to honour grassroots conservationists and wildlife photographers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Painganga Wildlife Sanctuary</span> Wildlife sanctuary in Maharashtra, India

Painganga Wildlife Sanctuary is the name given to the protected forests on both sides of the Painganga River which divides Yavatmal district and Nanded district, Maharashtra, India. The Painganga Wildlife Sanctuary was established on January 1, 1996. It covers an area of about 325 sq. km. in the Pusad forest, in which teak is the main tree. Supervision and direct control is in the hands of the sub-conservator (wildlife) Pandharkavada, reporting to the Government of Maharashtra.

References

  1. "This Organisation Doesn't Just Protect Wildlife, It Conserves Forests and Empowers Villagers Too!". www.thebetterindia.com.
  2. "Many from Vid on state wildlife board". www.timesofindia.com.
  3. "WILDLIFE WEEK 2019: INDIA'S TIGER CENSUS POINTS TO AN URGENT NEED FOR PEACEFUL ECOSYSTEMS WHERE HUMANS, TIGERS COEXIST". www.firstpost.com.
  4. "Focus on quality of life, mental health of Forest Guards: Study". www.dnaindia.com.
  5. "About 400 proposed infrastructure projects will destroy tiger corridors: report; Wildlife Conservation Trust recommends measures to achieve a win-win solution for development and wildlife". www.downtoearth.org.in.
  6. "Hemendra Kothari: Beyond Profits". www.forbesindia.com.
  7. "An Interview With India's Leading Wildlife Conservationist Dr. Anish Andheria". www.worldatlas.com.
  8. "Bittu Sahgal". en.wikipedia.org.
  9. "Landscape scale initiatives in South and Central India".
  10. "Here it is, first proof of Eurasian Otters' presence in India".
  11. "World Pangolin Day: Madhya Pradesh radio-tags first-ever Indian Pangolin".
  12. "In Sahyadri-Konkan corridor, tigers largely found in forested regions closer to Karnataka, Goa: Survey".
  13. Dewoolkar, Pooja; Belhekar, Vivek; Bhatkhande, Aniket; Hatekar, Neeraj; Chavan, Rushikesh (2020). "Improving adoption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for better health and conservation outcomes". Biodiversity. 21 (2): 90–96. doi:10.1080/14888386.2020.1803132. S2CID   222231973.
  14. Belhekar, Vivek; Paranjpye, Prachi; Bhatkhande, Aniket; Chavan, Rushikesh (2020). "Guarding the guardians: understanding the psychological well-being of forest guards in Indian tiger reserves". Biodiversity. 21 (2): 83–89. doi:10.1080/14888386.2020.1809521. S2CID   222232615.
  15. "Progress from a year of AI for Social Good at Google Research India".
  16. "How India's First Dedicated Underpass for Wildlife Was Built on India's NH-7/44". thebetterindia.com.
  17. "International Dog Day: Here's How Dogs are Being Trained to Help in Wildlife Conservation". weather.com. The Weather Channel.
  18. "The eyes of the jungle: A new study sheds light on the harsh and unsafe conditions forest guards in India have to work under". mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com. Mumbai Mirror.
  19. Gadre, Vishal; Trivedy, Chetan (20 August 2020). "The feasibility of non-communicable disease (NCD) risk-factor estimation among forest staff at Sahyadri Tiger Reserve in Central India". Biodiversity. 21 (2: One Health and Conservation): 97–104. doi:10.1080/14888386.2020.1793814. S2CID   222232843.
  20. "Ganges river dolphins and other biodiversity in the Mahananda River in Bihar and West Bengal: A report on the first complete survey, November 2021. Report for the Department of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change, Government of Bihar. Wildlife Conservation Trust, Mumbai, India, 35 pp". ResearchGate.
  21. "Mahananda river survey records 190 dolphins, warns of fishing threats to Red List species". MongabayIndia. 17 February 2022.
  22. "National NGO's from India". globaltigerforum.org.
  23. "Reinforce rules in tiger corridors, buffer zones: NTCA". timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
  24. "Wildlife Board constituted for J&K". www.greaterkashmir.com.
  25. "Water heater that helps cut man-animal conflict in Chandrapur wins UN Award". The Times of India. Nov 27, 2023.