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Formerly known as the World Wildlife Fund, WWF India
was established as a Charitable Trust in 1969. With
its network of State / Divisional and Field Offices
spread across the country to implement its programmes,
WWF-India is the largest and one of the most
experienced conservation organizations in the country.
The Secretariat functions from New Delhi. The
organization is part of the WWF-India family with 27
independent National Organisations. The coordinating
body, the WWF-International, is located at Gland in
Switzerland. |
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WWF-India
Mission
“The promotion of nature conservation and
environmental protection as the basis for sustainable
and equitable development”. To achieve this Mission
WWF-India undertakes the following activities : |
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Tiger and Wildlife Conservation
The Tiger and Wildlife Programme of WWF-India is
involved in conservation programmes for Tiger,
Elephant and Rhino in the wild along with their
associated species and habitats. To ensure long term
survival of these species, the programme is working
towards conservation of large inter connected habitats
or `Landscapes'. The conservation strategy includes
influencing policy and decision making, assisting and
strengthening enforcement measures, generating
awareness and mobilizing public support through
networking with other field based NGOs and
international networking to address trans-boundary
issues. |
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The programme is currently supporting 37
Protected Areas (National Parks and Sanctuaries)
throughout the country. It has been successful in
reducing man-animal conflict through its Cattle
Compensation Scheme in four Protected Areas. |
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Freshwater and Wetland Conservation Programme ( F &
WCP )
The programme seeks to conserve major freshwater and
wetland resources, with the focus being on `wise-use'.
This is done through pilot projects on sustainable use
of freshwater and field projects in protected and
non-protected areas. The programme is undertaking
major conservation projects in the high altitude
wetlands of Ladakh and the Keoladeo National Park. The
programme directly supports and assists the Ministry
of Environment and Forests (MoEF), GOI in meeting the
country's obligations under the Ramsar Convention on
Wetlands. The protection of Ganges River Dolphin, a
freshwater flagship species, is a key programme of F&WCP. |
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Forests and
Bio-Diversity Conservation Programme
WWF-India has been actively involved in promoting
conservation of forest ecosystems in India aimed at
sustainable use of forest resources. The long-term
goal of WWF-India is to enhance conservation through a
participatory approach involving stakeholders. WWF-India
has been actively involved in promoting people's
participation in Joint Forest Management (JFM)
initiatives through field level projects. This reduces
dependence of local people on natural resources and
develops sustainable methods for local communities to
meet their basic biomass and income needs. Community
activities with WWF-India include pilot projects for
rare medicinal plant, seed banks of traditional
agricultural crops, and protection of sacred groves. |
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Educational Awareness
Environmental Education is a priority for WWF-India.
It uses both formal and non-formal methods to promote
conservation awareness and environment education among
teachers and primary school children. The major
outreach components of the programme are Teacher
Training workshops conducted primarily in rural and
tribal areas in local languages and youth outreach
programmes in schools, colleges, and local levels.
Teacher Training workshops develop the necessary staff
capacities and institutional structures required to
strengthen educational programmes. Nature Clubs
broaden involvement of students, parents, community
and local government, thereby benefiting the whole
society. |
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Centre for Environmental Law
The Centre for Environmental Law (CEL) has built
functional and professional linkages with government,
professional bodies and non-government organizations
in India at the regional and international levels to
influence environmental law and policy. Activities
include legal interventions, studies on national and
international legislation, and support to the
government of India in framing and reforming
environmental legislations. It also networks with
government and non-government organization/agencies
dealing with environmental issues to support nature
conservation and environment protection. CEL also runs
a diploma programme to build Asian environmental law
capacity in South Asia. |
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Oceans and Coasts Programme
WWF-India has been involved in several projects
targeting marine protected areas and promotion of
sustainable fisheries. The focus of the programme is
based on conservation of marine biodiversity and
creating awareness towards human impact on marine
ecosystem. Certification/eco-labelling of marine
fisheries and fishing subsidies; coral reef
monitoring; marine turtle conservation and shark
fisheries management are current priorities of the
programme. |
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Looking internationally, networking on whaling policy
and Antarctic affairs occupy a prominent place in the
scheme of things. |
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Library and Documentation Services
The Fatehsinhrao Gaekwad Library and Documentation
Centre provides regular support to the programme
divisions for documents related to nature conservation
and environmental protection as well as to NGOs,
media, researchers, students and other subscribers.
The library holdings deal mainly with subjects like
forests, wetlands, marine ecosystems, wildlife
pollution and toxics, climate change, environmental
law, wildlife trade, protected areas, watershed
management etc. The centre has compiled its holdings
in a computerized database and provides information
services to user groups. |
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Communication and Fund Raising
The communication programme has been actively involved
in the important process of disseminating knowledge
and information on nature conservation and
environmental protection to the citizens of India via
publications, the media and the internet. Internet
communications capability enables members to have
faster and easier access to information and donations. |
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Indira Gandhi Conservation Monitoring Centre (IGCMC)
The Indira Gandhi Conservation Monitoring Centre (IGCMC)
supports biodiversity and natural resources
conservation in India through collecting, managing,
disseminating and making accessible relevant data and
knowledge, and by providing appropriate technical,
analytical and networking services.
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As a long-term strategy, IGCMC aims to consolidate its existing
position by extending its support base and data
network to cover information related to all forms of
natural resources. The IGCMC is extensively using
Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems for
providing data on habitats and ecosystems in the
country. The Centre is equipped with state-of-the-art
hardware and software facilities including
image-processing software. The IGCMC also disseminates
information through its ENVIS Centre on NGOs,
Parliament and Media related issues on environment for
the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Recently, the
Centre has initiated a programme to study the impact
of climate change in the country as well as build
awareness on various issues relating to the subject.
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