The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has inaugurated a Centre of Excellence on Human-Wildlife Conflict at WII-SACON in Coimbatore, alongside launching a National Human-Wildlife Conflict Portal. The initiative, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 7th Meeting of the National Board for Wildlife, aims to address India's growing conservation and development challenge arising from increasing human-wildlife interactions due to habitat fragmentation, changing land-use patterns, and expanding human activities.
Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav emphasized that the approach should be solution-oriented rather than problem-oriented, utilizing modern technological advances. The Centre will serve as a national hub for research, innovation, policy support, capacity building, and dissemination of best practices for scientific and evidence-based management of human-wildlife conflict. The Minister specifically directed the institute to focus on developing policies for managing conflicts involving tigers outside tiger reserves, leopards, and elephants with humans.
During the inauguration, the National Human-Wildlife Conflict Portal was launched as a digital platform designed to facilitate data management, knowledge sharing, and decision support for conflict mitigation across the country. The first edition of a publication series titled 'Current Status of Human-Wildlife Conflict in India: An Overview' was also released, providing a comprehensive assessment of current status, trends, and emerging challenges.
The accompanying national workshop brought together senior policymakers, forest managers, scientists, researchers, technology experts, and conservation practitioners to deliberate on effective strategies. Technical sessions included live demonstration of the conflict portal and expert presentations focusing on three key areas: Human-Elephant Conflict, Human-Big Cat Conflict, and Technology and Innovation for Human-Wildlife Conflict Mitigation.
Minister of State Kirti Vardhan Singh highlighted that successful wildlife conservation has led to increased human-wildlife interaction, creating both a conservation issue and a larger socio-economic issue affecting livelihoods. He emphasized the need to balance wildlife conservation with socio-economic progress through long-term solutions. The Centre of Excellence is expected to play a crucial role in capacity building of officials and communities while preserving traditional knowledge and advancing technological applications in wildlife conservation.
The initiative reflects the Government of India's commitment to balancing biodiversity conservation with protection of human lives and livelihoods through science-based, technology-enabled, and community-oriented approaches. The workshop deliberations are expected to generate actionable recommendations for strengthening national strategies, promoting technological innovation, improving stakeholder coordination, and enhancing coexistence between people and wildlife.