New Delhi:
The government on Monday launched a national campaign as part of its effort to protect the dwindling population of bears in the country.
Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan released the National Bear Conservation and Welfare Action Plan at the launch of the 21st International Conference on Bear Research and Management in New Delhi.
The plan summarises the threats faced by bears in India, and outlines management actions to be undertaken by states for the conservation and welfare of the animal.
It is an outcome of a joint work by the Environment Ministry, the Wildlife Institute of India, the state forest
departments and NGOs including Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), World Society for the Protection of Animals and International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Natarajan said the attention that bears have received is not adequate in the country. She promised her Ministry's necessary guidance and support to the states to implement the action plan.
India is home to four of the eight species of bears found worldwide -- making it one of the only two countries with this diversity, the other being China. The sloth bear, the Asiatic black bear, the Himalayan brown bear and the Malayan sun bear are found in India.
Sloth bears are endemic to the Indian sub-continent and have gone extinct fairly recently from Pakistan and
Bangladesh, underscoring threats posed by habitat loss and increasing human interface to the species.
The black bears and brown bears inhabit the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions, while the sun bears are found in very small numbers along the Northeast region. Bears have an almost pan-India presence as it is found in 26 of the 28 states.
Vivek Menon, Executive Director, WTI and co-chair of the conference, said that no other group of closely-related animals is as widely distributed in India like the bears.
"They are better representatives of Indian wilderness as they are found in the upper and lower Himalayas as well as in the Indian peninsula. They also have relevance to our culture and traditions. So the focus they deserve is obvious," he said.
Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan released the National Bear Conservation and Welfare Action Plan at the launch of the 21st International Conference on Bear Research and Management in New Delhi.
The plan summarises the threats faced by bears in India, and outlines management actions to be undertaken by states for the conservation and welfare of the animal.
It is an outcome of a joint work by the Environment Ministry, the Wildlife Institute of India, the state forest
departments and NGOs including Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), World Society for the Protection of Animals and International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Natarajan said the attention that bears have received is not adequate in the country. She promised her Ministry's necessary guidance and support to the states to implement the action plan.
India is home to four of the eight species of bears found worldwide -- making it one of the only two countries with this diversity, the other being China. The sloth bear, the Asiatic black bear, the Himalayan brown bear and the Malayan sun bear are found in India.
Sloth bears are endemic to the Indian sub-continent and have gone extinct fairly recently from Pakistan and
Bangladesh, underscoring threats posed by habitat loss and increasing human interface to the species.
The black bears and brown bears inhabit the Himalayan and sub-Himalayan regions, while the sun bears are found in very small numbers along the Northeast region. Bears have an almost pan-India presence as it is found in 26 of the 28 states.
Vivek Menon, Executive Director, WTI and co-chair of the conference, said that no other group of closely-related animals is as widely distributed in India like the bears.
"They are better representatives of Indian wilderness as they are found in the upper and lower Himalayas as well as in the Indian peninsula. They also have relevance to our culture and traditions. So the focus they deserve is obvious," he said.
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