Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav launches 5 projects for species conservation

New Delhi, Oct 6 (IANS) As part of Wildlife Week 2025 celebrations, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav on Monday launched five national-level projects for species conservation and conflict management.

The five projects included Implementation of Action Plan of Project Dolphin; Project Sloth Bear; Project Gharial and Tigers Outside Tiger Reserve.

Yadav also launched the project for the establishment of the Centre of Excellence for Human-Wildlife Conflict Management (CoE-HWC) at Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History to support policy, research, and field-based mitigation of human–wildlife conflicts.

The Minister urged all stakeholders to strengthen partnerships for conservation and said, “Wildlife protection is not just a duty, but a shared responsibility for ensuring harmony between nature and people.”

Wildlife Week 2025 celebrations were organised by the Ministry, along with Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA) and Forest Research Institute (FRI) at the historic Hari Singh Auditorium, IGNFA, FRI Campus, Dehradun.

This year’s theme is ‘Human-Wildlife coexistence’, keeping in view the incidences of close human-wildlife interfaces over the years and to gather community support so as to enable moving from ‘conflict to coexistence’.

Earlier, Yadav referred to the various nationally significant announcements made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 7th National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) and reiterated the Ministry’s commitment to conserving biodiversity while ensuring coexistence between people and wildlife.

He also laid emphasis on the growing need for innovative, technology-driven and community-centric approaches to wildlife management.

The Minister also unveiled four national-level action plans and field guides for species population assessments and monitoring programmes: Second Cycle of Population Estimation of River Dolphins and Other Cetaceans; All India Tiger Estimation Cycle–6; Action Plan for the Second Cycle of Snow Leopard Population Estimation and Progress report on the Population Estimation of Great Indian Bustard and Lesser Florican.

The event was also attended by senior officers from the Ministry, representatives from State Forest Departments, scientists, academicians, students, and conservation professionals.

The Wildlife Week Celebrations 2025 underscored the synergy between WII, ICFRE, IGNFA, and FRI, showcasing a holistic, inter-institutional approach to wildlife conservation, research, and policy integration.

–IANS

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