Center of Excellence for Human-Wildlife Conflicts coming up at WII-Sacon in Coimbatore

Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav (second right) and Union Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh (second from left) at the launch of the Center of Excellence on Human-Wildlife Conflict in Coimbatore on Friday. | Photo credit: X/@byadavbjp

Wildlife Institute of India’s premier research institute Salim Ali Center for Ornithology and Natural History (Sacon), Coimbatore, has been given a shot with the establishment of a national level Center of Excellence (CoE) on Human-Wildlife Conflict.

The CoE is designed to serve as a national center for research, innovation, policy advocacy, capacity building and dissemination of best practices to enhance scientific and evidence-based management of human-wildlife conflict.

Inaugurating the Coimbatore Council of Europe on Friday, Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav said man-wildlife conflict has emerged as one of India’s major conservation and development challenges due to increasing human-wildlife interactions due to habitat fragmentation, changing land use patterns and expanding human activities.

He wanted the Council of Europe to focus on a strategy to develop a policy to manage the conflicts of tigers outside tiger reserves and leopards and elephants with people. Awareness of human-wildlife conflict should be raised in mission mode in both urban and rural areas to deal with human-wildlife encounters, he said.

“Our approach should be solution-oriented, not problem-oriented, using modern technological advances,” he said.

Mr. Yadav urged forest authorities across the country to take proactive preventive measures in managing conflicts and damage caused to human enterprises and crops.

“Coexistence and harmony, instead of conflict, should be the mantra of ecological sustainability,” said Mr Yadav, who also launched the National Human – Wildlife Conflict Portal, a digital platform designed to facilitate data management, knowledge sharing and decision support for conflict mitigation across the country. “Current Status of Human-Wildlife Conflict in India: An Overview” was also released.

Published – 10 Jul 2026 20:44 IST