Why in News
🗞️ Why in News
On July 10, 2026, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav inaugurated the Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Human-Wildlife Conflict at WII-SACON, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and launched the National Human-Wildlife Conflict Portal along with the first edition of the report “Current Status of Human-Wildlife Conflict in India: An Overview.”
Background: Why a Dedicated Centre
As India’s wildlife populations recover, the interface between people and animals has widened. Recovering tiger, elephant and leopard numbers, shrinking forest buffers and expanding farmland at forest edges have made human-wildlife conflict (HWC) one of the most pressing conservation-governance challenges of the decade. Crop damage, livestock loss, human injury and retaliatory killing of animals erode the local goodwill on which long-term conservation depends.
Recognising this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the Centre of Excellence at the 7th meeting of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL). The July 10 inauguration operationalises that announcement, giving the country a single scientific hub to coordinate research, policy support and field capacity on conflict management.
What Was Launched
Three deliverables were released together, each addressing a different gap in the conflict-management chain.
The Centre of Excellence on HWC is a national hub for research, policy support and capacity-building on scientific conflict management. Hosted at the campus shared by the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) in Coimbatore, it draws on the ecological and ornithological expertise concentrated there and works alongside the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, the country’s premier wildlife-training and research body.
The National Human-Wildlife Conflict Portal centralises conflict data from across states into one digital platform. By aggregating incident location, species, season and outcome, it is meant to enable evidence-based mitigation, replacing scattered and inconsistent state records with a comparable national dataset.
The report “Current Status of Human-Wildlife Conflict in India: An Overview” is the first edition of a periodic national assessment. It establishes a baseline picture of where, why and how conflict occurs, so that interventions can be targeted rather than uniform.
| Launch | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Centre of Excellence on HWC | National hub for research, policy support and capacity-building |
| National HWC Portal | Centralised conflict data for evidence-based mitigation |
| Status Report (1st edition) | Baseline national assessment of conflict patterns |
| Host institutions | WII (Dehradun) and SACON (Coimbatore) |
| Origin | Announced by PM Modi at the 7th NBWL meeting |
The Institutional Backbone
The initiative sits within a clear statutory architecture. The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) is the apex advisory body on wildlife, a statutory body under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and is chaired by the Prime Minister. It advises on conservation policy and clears projects in and around protected areas.
The parent statute itself provides the legal tools for conflict situations. Section 11 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 governs the hunting and handling of dangerous wild animals, allowing the Chief Wildlife Warden to permit capture or, in defined circumstances, the killing of an animal that has become a danger to human life. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is the nodal ministry steering the whole framework.
Analysis and Way Forward
The three launches together mark a shift from reactive, ad hoc conflict response toward a data-driven, institutionalised model. The portal’s value will depend on timely and honest state-level reporting; a national dataset is only as good as the incidents fed into it. The Centre’s success will be judged on whether its research translates into field tools, early-warning systems, ecological corridors that let animals move without crossing villages, and compensation frameworks that are prompt and adequate enough to discourage retaliation. Balancing conservation gains with human safety and rural livelihoods remains the core test.
UPSC Relevance
GS Paper 3: Conservation, environmental degradation, wildlife protection statutes and institutions; technology in conservation.
Prelims pointers:
- The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) is a statutory body under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and is chaired by the Prime Minister.
- SACON is the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, located in Coimbatore.
- WII is the Wildlife Institute of India, located in Dehradun.
- Section 11 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 deals with hunting and handling of dangerous wild animals.
- MoEFCC is the nodal ministry for the Centre of Excellence on HWC.
Mains question: “As India’s wildlife populations recover, managing human-wildlife conflict has become central to conservation governance. Discuss the role of data platforms, ecological corridors and compensation frameworks in balancing conservation with human safety and livelihoods.” (15 marks, 250 words)
Facts Corner
📌 Facts Corner, Knowledgepedia
- Centre of Excellence on HWC: National hub for research, policy support and capacity-building, hosted at WII-SACON, Coimbatore, announced by PM Modi at the 7th NBWL meeting.
- National HWC Portal: Centralises conflict data across states for evidence-based mitigation.
- NBWL: Apex advisory body on wildlife, statutory under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, chaired by the Prime Minister.
- SACON: Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore.
- WII: Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun.
- Section 11, WPA 1972: Governs hunting and handling of dangerous wild animals.
Sources: Press Information Bureau, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Source: Centre of Excellence on Human-Wildlife Conflict Inaugurated — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Current Affairs
