News : Training Programmes and Workshops

XXIX P.G. Diploma Course in Wildlife Management at WII, The course commenced on September 1, 2007 for nine months duration at the Institute. Fifteen officer trainees have joined the course, of which eleven are from Forest Departments of various Indian States and four foreign nationals.
 

The diploma trainees were taken to Kalagarh and Corbett Tiger Reserve from September 28, 2007 to October 2, 2007 as part of their orientation tour. Contact: anup@wii.gov.in

National workshop on ‘Guidelines for preparation of Tiger Conservation Plan’, Dehradun, July 26-27, 2007. The National Tiger Conservation Authority, Ministry of Environment & Forests, Government of India organized the national workshop at Wildlife Institute of India. The objectives of Tiger Conservation Plan are to ensure: (i) protection of tiger reserve and providing site specific habitat inputs for a viable population of tigers, co-predators and prey animals without distorting the natural prey-predator ecological cycle in the habitat; (ii) ecologically compatible land uses in the tiger reserves and areas linking one protected area or tiger reserve to another for addressing the livelihood concerns of local people, so as to provide dispersal habitats and corridors for spillover population of wild animals from the designated core areas of tiger reserves or from tiger breeding habitats within other protected areas; (iii) forestry operations of regular forest divisions and those adjoining tiger reserves are not incompatible with the needs of tiger conservation.

Definition and need for inviolate core areas were discussed and evolved. Criteria for setting aside inviolate cores in tiger reserves were evolved. Guidelines developed for management of tiger reserve buffer, where tigers could potentially co-exist with humans and eco-friendly land uses. About fifty participants participated in the workshop. Contact: jhalay@wii.gov.in

Consultation Workshop of Taxon Experts Groups for Development of Criteria and listing of species in the Schedules of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Dehradun, August 6-7, 2007. Wildlife Institute of India (WII) organized this workshop involving various Animal taxon experts to finalize the criteria for inclusion of animal species in the schedules of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and also listing the animal species in the various schedules. A total of 34 experts and managers from various organizations of India participated in this two days workshop. Experts of various taxon groups such as mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fishes, insects, crustacea, mollusca and echinodermata were present. Some of the members could not attend the workshop however they contributed through e-mails. Contact: ksivakumar@wii.gov.in

Two Workshops viz. ‘Introduction to Organization Development and Change’ August 12–14, 2007 and ‘Introduction to Project Management, Dehradun’, August 15–17, 2007. Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Hiroshima Office for Asia and the Pacific (HOAP) organized two workshops. The overall objectives of the workshop were: (i) to equip participants with tools for assessing organizations and teams, and analyzing and reporting the assessments; (ii)  to enhance the understanding of an organization’s culture and change process; (iii) to review assignments and assess their progress; and (iv) to assist in developing team projects. The first workshop introduced a number of tools to help Afghan Fellows analyse the environment, work processes and cultural norms of their respective organizations, as well as to accurately assess and address organizational needs. Many Fellows noted that the tools introduced during the workshop, such as the SIPOC Model (Supplier – Input – Process–Output- Customer) for analyzing and  improving work flow and the GPPR Model (Goals, Roles, Processes, Relationships) for analyzing and developing teams, were highly relevant and useful for their managerial tasks. The second workshop aimed at equipping participants with basic knowledge of project design, scheduling, monitoring and evaluation in order to prepare them for work on their team projects. It also introduced MS Project software for managing project work schedules and effectively communicating project data.  The overall objectives of the workshop were to: (i) enhance participants’ understanding of project design and management; (ii) provide tools for project scheduling, monitoring and evaluation, budgeting and reporting; (iii) introduce skills in proposal writing and the use of tools such as MS Project software; and (iv) review and further develop team projects.

Workshops I and II were the first on-site events of the 2007 UNITAR Hiroshima Fellowship. In addition to covering the planned topics of training, they also provided guidelines for the work on team projects leading to the last workshop in November. In the context of the fellowship assignments, workshop I provided guidance to the fellows on what they can do to assess and address the needs of their organizations through the team projects, workshop II was based on how to design and manage the projects – both in the context of the Fellowship, and in the context of their jobs in Afghanistan. The lead resource persons of both the workshops

Dr. Howard Lamb,  Ms. Sue Ries Lamb,  and  Dr. Jobaid Kabir were supported by Mr. Henry Kwok, Singapore International Foundation, and Ms. Sharapiya Kakimova, UNITAR HOAP. Contact: vbm@wii.gov.in.

Training Workshop on “Mountain and Forest Ecosystems: Challenges, Issues and Way Forward”, Dehradun, August 13-14, 2007. Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) Hiroshima Office for Asia and the Pacific (HOAP) organized this workshop in which 24 participants representing wildlife managers, scientists, representative of scientific and non-governmental organizations participated. Ms. Nassrine Azimi, Director, UNITAR-HOAP and Mr. P.R. Sinha, Director, WII jointly inaugurated the collaborative workshop.

The workshop was designed to achieve the following objectives: (i)  Rendition by various experts in India working in mountain, forest and wetland ecosystems of the challenges faced in their conservation work; (ii) Consultation with national and international experts and identification of next steps to tackle identified challenges, especially in the field of capacity-building; (iii) Making use of case studies, best practice and lessons-learned approaches, exchange knowledge on the appropriate conservation measures among the participants and create a network of information exchange to continue after the workshop; and (iv) Feed back of the findings to international bodies such as Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and Ramsar and into the future training programmes of WII and UNITAR. The high point of the workshop was the field visit to Asan Conservation Reserve. Contact: vbm@wii.gov.in.

PENTA – WII Collaborative Workshop on Environmental Assessment Curriculum, Dehradun, September 24–26, 2007. Promotion of European Education on Environmental Assessment for Third Country Audience (PENTA) Project is coordinated by Slovak University of Technology, Slovakia and jointly implemented by its partners - the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom and Austrian Institute for the Development of Environmental Assessment. The project’s main objective is to promote education outside the European Union (EU), enhance the attractiveness of Environmental Assessment (EA) courses and attract third country students to study this field in EU countries. The workshop was jointly organized by the PENTA and WII teams.  The objectives of this workshop were to: (i) inform about PENTA project objectives and to present project outcomes to increase third country based knowledge on EA and to thus enable them understand how best to access the teaching materials; (ii) exchange experiences on EA related Master programmes in Europe to enable development of future Master Courses on EA for third country students; (iii) provide a window for discussion on the South Asian regional EA processes, practical experience, capacity and future needs to seek the support of PENTA in promoting EA education for third world countries; and (iv) discuss and exchange best practice and create contacts and networking strategies that may enrich the PENTA Project outputs.

The workshop was attended by 33 participants from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India. The workshop was also attended by reviewers and officials of Ministry of Environment & Forests, directly responsible for environmental decision-making and representatives of civil society and Quality Council of India. The workshop not only provided a window for discussion on the South Asian regional EA process and sharing practical experience of EA and identifying needs for future capacity building but also emerged as a very appropriate platform for fostering a strong network of EA professionals and academicians to enable development of master courses on EA under EU education for third country students. Contact: ar@wii.gov.in

III Internal Annual Research Seminar (IARS) September 17-18, 2007 & XXI Annual Research Seminar (ARS) of the Institute, Dehradun, September 19-20, 2007. The III IARS was chaired by Sh. V.B. Sawarkar, Chairman, Training, Research & Academic Council (TRAC). During the IARS, a total of 40 presentations were made by the researchers and faculty members of the Institute in eight sessions to represent all research projects that have been initiated recently. Five presentations were adjudged as the best presentations and the concerned were awarded book prize worth Rs.1000.00.

XXI Annual Research Seminar

The ARS was also chaired by Sh. V.B. Sawarkar, Chairman, TRAC. In total, 21 presentations were made by M.Sc. students, researchers, former researchers and faculty members in seven sessions. The presentations were based on completed and on going research studies of the Institute. One special session with four presentations (two by WII faculty members and two by external delegates) was also conducted during the ARS.

About 250 delegates/ participants attended the ARS that included the Principal Chief Conservators of Forests (PCCFs), Chief Wildlife Wardens and other senior officials representing State Forest Departments, NGOs, scientists, conservationists, wildlife experts, faculty members, researchers, M.Sc. students and the Post Graduate Diploma course officer trainees of WII. Five presentations were adjudged as the best presentations of the Annual Research Seminar. All five researchers were given book awards, each worth Rs.1000.00.

In the concluding session, comments on the ARS were made by senior forest officials and other select distinguished guests. Sh. V.B. Sawarkar, Chairman, TRAC appreciated the efforts made by the researchers and faculty members in making excellent seminar presentations. He observed that the probing questions raised and suggestions made by the delegates/participants stimulated intellectual discussion and made significant contribution to conservation. Contact: sankark@wii.gov.in
 

Book Awards for Best Presentations III – Annual Internal Research Seminar
I.  Mr. R. Suresh Kumar	An investigation on the relationship of offshore distribution patterns of Olive Ridley turtles and mass nesting along the Rushikulya rookery of Orissa.
II. Ms. Sruthi Kumar	An ecological assessment of the critical habitats of the three sympatric species of marine turtles in the Lakshadweep islands.
III. Mr. Merwyn Fernandes	An assessment of the current distribution and trait characteristics of Red Junglefowl.
IV. Mr. Kaushik Banerjee	Social organization and dispersal of Asiatic lions: Research achievements and way ahead.
V. Mr. Chittaranjan Dave	Chital and livestock in Gir: Impact on vegetation.
XXI – Annual Research Seminar
I.  Ms. Mousumi Ghosh	Winter ecology of three species of sympatric Phylloscopus warblers.
II. Mr. Sutirtha Dutta	Ecological aspects of Indian spiny-tailed lizard Uromastyx hardwickii in Kutch.
III. Ms. Deep Contractor	Evaluating the effect of design and sampling intensity on estimating tiger population and density.
IV. Mr. Abishek Harihar	Response of tiger and wild ungulate prey populations to human disturbance in Rajaji National Park, Uttarakhand: Spatial and seasonal variations.
V. Ms. Ambica Paliwal	Spatial distribution of ungulates and vegetation structure in Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR), Maharashtra.