News & Events

Strategic Planning Workshop in India

September 03, 2010

The Indian Turtle Conservation Programme (ITCP), a joint initiative of the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), Madras Crocodile Bank Trust (MCBT) and San Diego Zoo, in association with Uttar Pradesh Forest Department, will organize a national workshop dedicated to turtle conservation entitled “Indian Freshwater Turtle and Tortoises Conservation Priority Areas and Initiatives”. The workshop will be held from 22 -24 October 2010 in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.

Objectives:

• Review the implementation of the 2005, “Conservation Action Plan for Endangered Turtles and Tortoises” developed at Kukrail Gharial Rehabilitation Centre by TSA and MCBT
• Discuss and prioritize important areas for turtle conservation across India and review their potential to support new programmes
• Identify competent local partners and collaborators for key conservation initiatives

India’s freshwater turtles face an unprecedented onslaught of pressures, ranging from intensive harvesting to large scale habitat loss. Nearly 60 percent of the 28 native species are now in danger of extinction. Some turtles are now so depleted that there are not enough breeding animals left in the wild to recover on their own, and other exist only in limited number in captivity.

This workshop aims to synchronize, as well as capitalize on, the efforts of the various organizations and individuals working to conserve threatened Indian turtles and the beautiful rivers and wetlands where they live. Some of the workshop sessions will be solely dedicated to the social upliftment of local riverside communities through conservation awareness and alternative livelihoods with an overall goal of conserving significant freshwater resources for the benefit of both humans and wildlife.By bringing together sixty national and international frontline biologists, conservationists, educators, socio-economists, forest department officers, and policy makers the workshop seeks to develop regional conservation action plans and identify the immediate needs for five turtle priority areas. Participants will evaluate past priorities with respect to change in national and International conservation priorities. This workshop will be chaired by renowned herpetologist Prof. Indraneil Das from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.

Primarily five prioritize turtle area in India have been identified to be discussed (click here to see a map): Chambal River, and Upper Ganges River system (Central India), the Terai region (Northern India), the state of Assam (northeast India), the Sunderban of West Bangal and state of Orissa (eastern India), and Westernghat and the state of Kerala and Tamilnadu. These are the areas selected on the basis of species richness, endemism, proportion of endangered turtles and our ability to initiate conservation programs.

The workshop is expected to be received an extensive media coverage. The resulting action plan will be distributed among approximately five thousand national and international, government and non-governmental organisations and individuals and will be implemented in the respective regions by the alliance of conservation agencies under the supervision of Turtle Survival Alliance.

Workshop Venue: The Piccadily Hotel, Sect- B, Bara Birwa, Kanpur Road, Lucknow, India (tent.)

Workshop Secretariat- National: Centre for Herpetology/Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, Post Bag 4 Mamallapuram, Tamilnadu, India. Local: 1/737, Vikasnagar Lucknow Uttar Pradesh, India

Appeal for Donations

Donation to this important turtle conservation workshop is highly appreciated. This will help us to defray the cost of the on-site events and also extend the travel assistance to the participants from remote places of India. Click here to donate online. Three levels of giving are outlined below:

Level 1 – Rs 10000-25000 ($215-$537 USD) – Benefits include a banner in meeting hall for all sessions, media coverage, logo or emblem in resulting document
Level 2 – Rs 25000-50000 ($537-$1,075 USD) – Benefits include a banner in meeting hall for all sessions, half page donor acknowledgement in resulting document, extensive media coverage, partnership with the present workshop
Level 3 – Rs 50000- 100000 ($1,075 – $2,151 USD) – Benefits include a banner at the podium, full page donor acknowledgement in resulting document, extensive media coverage, partnership with Indian Turtle Conservation program for one year.

In addition, donors may sponsor workshop materials, special events or sessions, which will be acknowledged through logo placement on the article and on the banner at the sponsored event.

For more details regarding donation, workshop schedule, program and list of participants, please contact:
Shailendra Singh, PhD (Convener) at¬†[email protected]¬†(+91-9453310292)
Shruti Bajpai, MBA (Event Coordinator) at¬†[email protected]