Grassroots NGO
Support Network
This project has been
designed to improve the protection of wild tigers by
strengthening and supporting small but dedicated NGOs
working at the grass roots level. WPSI selects NGOs
that have first hand information on forest conditions,
tiger movements, poaching, and the effect of human activities
on the habitat, and provides them with modest funds.
Initial progress was slow because of
the need to obtain government clearances. The project
finally took shape in 1999, since when WPSI has supported
the following NGOs:
Wildlife Society of Orissa (Orissa)
Rhino Foundation for Nature (Assam)
Friends of Forests (Maharashtra)
North Eastern Society for Preservation of Nature and
Wildlife (West Bengal)
Nature's Beckon (Assam)
Nature Conservation Society Amravati (Maharashtra)
The Friends of the Doon (Uttaranchal)
Bali Nature and Wild Life Conservation Society (West
Bengal).
Examples of support provided to these
NGOs include:
- Providing basic office equipment for The Friends
of the Doon, a well-known local NGO in the Corbett
and Rajaji national parks;
- Assisting the Bali Nature and Wild Life Conservation
Society, which works for tiger conservation in the
Sundarbans, to hold a conservation awareness seminar
and build an awareness centre;
- Printing 10,000 Hindi language awareness posters
for Friends of Forests in Maharashtra, plus 2,000
copies of the Hindi version of “The Wild Life
Protection Act - A Brief Guide”;
- Providing a photocopying machine for Aaranyak,
an NGO dedicated to the conservation of wild flora
and fauna in northeast India.
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