Bhupender Yadav inaugurates Centre of Excellence on Human-Wildlife Conflict in Coimbatore

Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav inaugurated the Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Human-Wildlife Conflict at the Wildlife Institute of India-Sálim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (WII-SACON), Coimbatore, and launched the National Human-Wildlife Conflict Portal on Friday, July 10,2026. The inauguration was followed by a national workshop on human-wildlife conflict, bringing together policymakers, forest officials, scientists, researchers, technology experts and conservation practitioners from across the country to discuss strategies for reducing conflicts between humans and wildlife. The event was also attended by Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Kirti Vardhan Singh. 
Addressing the gathering, Yadav said human-wildlife conflict has emerged as one of India’s major conservation and development challenges due to increasing interactions between people and wildlife caused by habitat fragmentation, changing land-use patterns and expanding human activities. “Our approach should be solution-oriented, instead of being problem-oriented, utilising modern technological advances,” Yadav said.Yadav stressed the need for developing strategies to manage conflicts involving tigers outside tiger reserves, leopards and elephants. He called for mission-mode awareness campaigns in both urban and rural areas to educate people on dealing with wildlife encounters. He stressed the need to balance wildlife protection with socio-economic development and said the Centre of Excellence would play a key role in capacity building among officials and communities. He added that the centre would support the use of advanced technologies for data documentation while preserving traditional knowledge related to wildlife conservation and peaceful coexistence