The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has proposed a long-term scientific population recovery and conservation initiative for the Great Indian Bustard, Gangetic dolphin, Sangai deer and Dugong. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), has agreed to fund this initiative for launching which the WII will hold a day long workshop in Dehradun on Monday to discuss the broad outline of the proposed action and the role of partner States and NGOs in the initiative. According to the institute, the project envisions the close collaboration of WII with all the States concerned, MoEFCC, academic institutions and non-state conservation organisations to achieve the long-term conservation goals for these endangered species. To launch this conservation initiative, a one-day workshop for all the potential partners is to be held here on Monday to discuss the broad outline of the proposed actions and how partner states and NGOs can contribute towards reviving populations of these endangered species.
Senior officials from the ministry and state forest departments of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andaman and Nicobar along with experts from national institutes such as Forest Research Institute, Zoological Survey of India, Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, The Centre for Marine living Resources and Ecology, the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research apart from some universities will share their concerns and opinions on the proposed actions. Noted conservation organisations like World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) - India, Bombay Natural History Society, Aranyak, Gujarat Ecological Education & Research Foundation, The Corbett Foundation, Bay of Bengal Programme and International Collective in Support of Fish Workers among others are also participating in this workshop.
It is pertinent to mention here that the Great Indian Bustard is a Critically Endangered species with about 200 birds estimated to be left in the wild globally.
It is a flagship species of grasslands and threatened mainly by poaching and habitat loss. The Sangai deer,is found only in Keibul lamjao National Park (KlNP) in Manipur.
It has isolated and small population vulnerable to extinction. Sangai is a Schedule-I species as per Wildlife Protection Act (WPA 1972) and globally threatened with less than 100 individuals estimated to be alive in wild.
The Gangetic dolphin is also an endangered and Schedule I species as per WPA 1972 and its population has declined by over 50 per cent. The Gangetic dolphin is a flagship species of riverine ecosystems and is found in some pockets of Ganga and Brahmaputra river systems.
The Dugong is a Critically Endangered species with less than 250 individuals estimated to be left along the Indian coast. It is threatened by poaching, fishing net entanglement, boat hits, pollution and habitat loss.