India records 6,327 riverine dolphins in first-ever nationwide estimation

Gujarat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday released the report of the first-ever riverine dolphin estimation conducted in the country, which estimated a total of 6,327 dolphins.

The report was released at 7th meeting of the National Board for Wildlife at Sasan Gir, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of World Wildlife Day.

The meeting was attend by Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav and other senior officials from the states.

This pioneering effort involved surveying 28 rivers across eight states, with 3150 mandays dedicated to covering over 8,500 kilometers. As per the report Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest numbers of dolphin followed by Bihar, West Bengal, and Assam.

Prime Minister emphasised the importance of awareness on dolphin conservation by involvement of local population and villagers in the areas. He also advised organising exposure visits of school children in dolphin habitat areas.

During the meeting Prime Minister also announced that the 16th Asiatic lion population estimation will held in May 2025. The Centre has approved more than ₹2,900 crore for Project Lion, meant for the conservation of Asiatic lions for which Gujarat is the only abode, stated a government release.

Currently, the Asiatic lions inhabit nearly 30,000 square kilometres across 53 talukas in 9 districts of Gujarat, it said. In 2020, the population was estimated to be 674, recording a growth of nearly 29% compared to 523 in 2015 census.

In a another major decision, Prime Minister announced that the Cheetah introduction will be expanded to other areas including the Gandhisagar Sanctuary in Madhya Pradesh and Banni Grasslands in Gujarat.

He announced a scheme focused on the conservation of tigers outside tiger reserves. The initiative aims to address human-tiger and other co-predator conflicts in areas outside these reserves by ensuring co-existence with local communities.

Recognising the dwindling population of gharials and a view of ensuring the conservation of Gharials, Prime Minister also announced the initiation of a new Project on Gharials for their conservation.

For effective management of human-wildlife conflict, Prime Minister made an announcement for establishing a Centre of excellence at Wildlife Institute of India- Campus in SACON (Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History), Coimbatore.

The centre will also support the states and UTs in equipping Rapid Response Teams with advanced technology, gadgets for tracking, forewarning; prescribe surveillance and Intrusion Detection Systems in human-wildlife conflict hotspots; and build capacity of field practitioners and community to execute conflict mitigation measures.

Prime Minister stressed on the usage of remote sensing & geospatial mapping and Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning to combat issues like forest fires and human-animal conflicts.

He suggested engagement of the Wildlife Institute of India with the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N) to address the challenge of human-wildlife conflict.

During the review meeting, Prime Minister asked the Board and Environment Ministry to gather traditional knowledge and manuscripts of various regions of India with respect to conservation and management of forests and wildlife for research and development.

Prime Minister noted that Gir is a good success story of Lion and Leopard conservation. He said that this traditional knowledge should be documented with the help of AI for use at other National Parks and Sanctuaries.

He also suggested for enhanced cooperation in Co-ordination unit under the United Nations Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).