World Wide Fund for Nature-India, better known by its abbreviation WWF-India,Established as a Charitable Trust in 1969, has been devotedly working to protect and secure natural heritage and ecology for more than 50 years. It has an autonomous office, with the Secretariat based in New Delhi and various state, divisional and project offices spread across India. [1]
WWF-India is one of India’s leading conservation organizations. [2] , it has massed almost five decades of experience in the field. Having started with modest beginnings, the organisation has come a long way helped by the efforts of its founders and associates who volunteered their efforts to lend momentum to this movement in its initial years. [3]
WWF-India today is engaged in many activities for protection and conservation of the environment in the Indian context. Climate change and energy conservation are among the chief areas of concern. The Forest and Biodiversity Conservation Division strives to promote and enhance conservation of forest ecosystems through a participatory approach involving key stakeholders in India. Through its Environment Education Programme and Education for Sustainable Development, it aims at strengthening individual and institutional capacity in nature conservation and environmental protection through widespread education and awareness. [4]
WWF-India launched an Education for Sustainable Development program in June 2013, including a trainer kit with materials in six languages, English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Kannada and Malayalam. [4] The program was targeted at teacher training and educational bodies responsible for curriculum.
As a pilot program, the WWF-India had introduced the program several months earlier in thirteen model schools. [5] One of the model schools, Salbari Higher Secondary School, was transformed by the program. Beyond cleaning up their school, the students set up a bird watching club, planted saplings with protective fencing, made a worm-compost pit, and started several other environmental projects. [4]
As of January 2015, the programme was active in four states. [6]
The Silence of the Pandas is a documentary on WWF-International, and also focuses on WWF-India and other WWF branches. A year in the making, this film from the award-winning German film maker Wilfried Huismann sought to dispel the green image of the WWF. Behind the WWF's eco-facade, the film uncovered explosive stories from all around the world. [7]
There has also been a criticism of their tiger conservation projects. [8]
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental, and social movement that seeks to manage and protect natural resources, including animal, fungus, and plant species as well as their habitat for the future. Conservationists are concerned with leaving the environment in a better state than the condition they found it in. Evidence-based conservation seeks to use high quality scientific evidence to make conservation efforts more effective.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it. It is involved in data gathering and analysis, research, field projects, advocacy, and education. IUCN's mission is to "influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable".
Project Tiger is a wildlife conservation movement initiated in India to protect the endangered tiger. The project was initiated in 1973 by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of India. As of March 2024, there are 55 protected areas that have been designated as tiger reserves under the project. As of 2023, there were 3,682 wild tigers in India, which is almost 75% of the world's wild tiger population.
Habitat conservation is a management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore habitats and prevent species extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range. It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterized in terms of any one ideology.
The Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and Centre for Herpetology (MCBT) is a reptile zoo and herpetology research station, located 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of the city of Chennai, in state of Tamil Nadu, India. The centre is both a registered trust and a recognized zoo under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and comes under the purview of the Central Zoo Authority, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India. It was established with the aim of saving three Indian endangered species of crocodile—the marsh or mugger crocodile, the saltwater crocodile, and the gharial, which at the time of founding of the trust were all nearing extinction.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is an Indian government ministry. The ministry portfolio is currently held by Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
The tiger is an iconic species. Tiger conservation attempts to prevent the animal from becoming extinct and preserving its natural habitat. This is one of the main objectives of the international animal conservation community. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has played a crucial role in improving international efforts for tiger conservation.
The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) was established in India in December 2005, following a recommendation of the Tiger Task Force. The Prime Minister of India established it to reorganise the management of Project Tiger and many Tiger Reserves in India.
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.
Conservation in India can be traced to the time of Ashoka, tracing to the Ashoka Pillar Edicts as one of the earliest conservation efforts in the world. Conservation generally refers to the act of carefully and efficiently using natural resources. Conservation efforts begun in India before 5 AD, as efforts are made to have a forest administration. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is the ministry responsible for implementation of environmental and forestry program in India, which include the management of national parks, conservation of flora and fauna of India, and pollution controls.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the World Wildlife Fund, which remains its official name in Canada and the United States. WWF is the world's largest conservation organization, with over five million supporters worldwide, working in more than 100 countries and supporting around 3,000 conservation and environmental projects. They have invested over $1 billion in more than 12,000 conservation initiatives since 1995. WWF is a foundation with 65% of funding from individuals and bequests, 17% from government sources and 8% from corporations in 2020.
Anwaruddin Choudhury is an Indian naturalist, noted for his expertise on the fauna of North-East India.
The Sacred Himalayan Landscape is a 39,021 km2 (15,066 sq mi) large trans-boundary landscape in the eastern Himalayas encompassing temperate broadleaf and conifer forests, alpine meadows and grasslands, which harbour more than 80 mammal and more than 440 bird species. It extends from Nepal's Langtang National Park through Sikkim and Darjeeling in India to western Bhutan's Torsa Strict Nature Reserve. More than 73% of this landscape is located in Nepal, including Sagarmatha National Park, Makalu Barun National Park, and Kanchenjunga Conservation Area. About 24% is located in India, encompassing Khangchendzonga, Singalila and Neora Valley National Parks as well as Fambong Lho, Maenam, Senchal, Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuaries, Shingba and Barsey Rhododendron Sanctuaries and Kyongnosla Alpine Sanctuary.
The Conservation Education Centre (CEC) is the education and awareness wing of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). The Conservation Education Centre is located on the BNHS Nature Reserve in Goregaon, Mumbai, India. The CEC came into existence on the BHNS Reserve in 1997.
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.
Lavkumar Jiva Khachar or K.S. Lavkumar was an ornithologist, nature and wildlife conservationist from India.
Environment Conservation Group (ECG) is a non-governmental organisation based in Coimbatore, India. The group is active since 2009 and works towards conservation of the environment and wildlife. ECG was formed by a group of wildlife and environmental enthusiasts headed by environmental activist Mr.Mohammed Saleem, Mr. Stephen Joseph is the Co-founder and Vice-President.
Salbari Higher Secondary School, a school in Salbari, Baksa, Assam, India, is situated in between the Ulubari village and Salbari bazaar. The school was established in 1955 to impart secondary education in Bodo and Assamese medium to the children of the rural and economically backward of the Baksa district. It is one of four schools in the state that are education for sustainable development model schools.
Gunjan Menon is an Indian wildlife film director, camerawoman, and National Geographic Explorer.
Mohammed Saleem is an environmental activist, environmental campaigner, National Geographic educator and explorer. He is the co-founder of Environment Conservation Group, a nonprofit NGO based out of Coimbatore, Tamilnadu that works on environmental conservation, advocacy and educational awareness. He has dedicated his entire life to the cause of environmental and wildlife conservation. He is also an ardent birder.
Hundreds of thousands of Adivasi – people of the forest – are once again being driven out to make way for new tiger reserve.