CWC Charter

The coalition for wildlife corridors (CWC) is a collaborative network of people and organizations working to advance connectivity conservation in India.

Vision

The vision driving the CWC is an India in which all major terrestrial and freshwater habitats in a region are connected in a way that maintains ecological and evolutionary processes while sustaining economic development and without impinging upon existing social and cultural practices.

Purpose

Habitat destruction and fragmentation due to human footprint is degrading habitat quality and increasing extinction risk of species globally. Maintaining connectivity is recognized as a key factor in conservation and management of endangered species. India is home to several endangered species. However, rapid urbanization, pervasive land-use change, and expanding infrastructure networks are transforming India’s natural landscapes at an unprecedented rate.  

The challenges of connectivity conservation over vast landscapes or regions cannot be addressed by a single agency or organization. Effective landscape-scale connectivity conservation instead requires looking beyond organizational boundaries and working more collaboratively to achieve a shared conservation vision to sustain ecological processes in rapidly changing landscapes. Hence, an idea to form a coalition for corridors was mooted at an international workshop on connectivity conservation held at New Delhi in April 2018.

The Coalition for Wildlife Corridors (CWC) is intended to be an enduring collaboration of NGOs working for wildlife conservation using science and advocacy to identify, design, and promote effective management of wildlife corridors across India. An important objective of the CWC will be to speak with one voice to galvanize consensus and responsible action for addressing key issues relating to corridor conservation. CWC is intended to facilitate a network of individuals and groups working on connectivity conservation while sustaining the identity, integrity, and legitimacy of all the individuals and groups involved. 

Objectives

  1. Create and maintain a comprehensive and dynamic web portal to host data on corridors in India.  
  2. Co-design and undertake coordinated advocacy for corridor conservation 
  3. Develop, share and standardise approaches to corridor planning, connectivity design and monitoring 
  4. Work to affirm implementation efforts of partner organisations (through knowledge sharing, site visits, learning and external profiling)
  5. Create new opportunities to work together on connectivity conservation and raise funds jointly

Modalities of Operation

Membership Committee: Membership would be open and dynamic. Current members include Wildlife Trust of India, Wildlife Conservation Trust, Centre for Wildlife Studies, World Wide Fund for Nature- India, Wildlife Research and Conservation Society, Network for Conserving Central India, Foundation for Ecological Research Advocacy and Learning, Wildlife Conservation Society, Conservation Initiatives and The Shola Trust.

Coalition Coordinator: The position of coordinator will be rotated across organizations. Current coordinator: Prachi Thatte, WWF- India 

Meetings: One face to face meeting will be organized every year. Quarterly virtual meetings will be organized by working groups around each action (actions for the first year are listed below). External participants would be welcome and invited to these meetings. Meetings will be hosted by one of the members, on a rotating basis. Minimising carbon footprints will be taken into account while holding meetings & workshops.

Working Committee: To be formed around actions/ activities and develop their own work schedule and meetings

Expectations of Members