Wildlife Institute of India - WII

Established in 1982, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is an internationally acclaimed Institution, which offers training program, academic courses and advisory in wildlife research and management. The Institute is actively engaged in research across the breadth of the country on biodiversity related issues. The Institute's idyllic campus that has been carefully developed to create state of the art infrastructure encourages scholarly work. The National Wildlife Database Cell of Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has been developing a National Wildlife Information System (NWIS) on the Protected Areas of the country. India has a network of 731 Protected Areas including 103 National Parks, 536 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 66 Conservation Reserves and 26 Community Reserves covering a total of 1,60,896.92 km2 of geographical area of the country which is approximately 4.89%.  National Wildlife Database (NWD) is providing information on the conservation status of animal species, biogeographic regions, administrative units, habitat types and the network of protected areas in India, in a variety of formats and also providing an extensive bibliographic support for wildlife research. Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in its pursuit to strengthen conservation efforts is being increasingly faced with challenges and complexities for wildlife conservation amidst rapid economic development. Building capacities for environmental assessment of developmental projects in major sectors emerged as a priority for holistic conservation and management approaches. In response to this, an Environmental Impact Assessment Cell was established at the Wildlife Institute of India in 1993 with the following mandate : Promote integration of environmental considerations into developmental planning. Promote integration of biodiversity concerns in the environmental appraisal of development projects. Develop innovative methodologies, systems and tools that facilitate environmental assessment, efficient synthesis of environmental information and credible decision making. Build capacity of institutions and individuals through opportunities of training, workshops and placement. Provide advisory support for decision making at the apex level.