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Top Indian Companies Funding CSR in Animal Protection
By
Kasmin Fernandes
We’ve observed that only a handful of Indian companies are committed
to CSR in animal protection. Given the large ecological footprint of
companies, it becomes more binding on them to contribute to overall
prospects of biodiversity conservation. Protection of wildlife comes
under item 6 in Clause 135-Schedule VII of the Companies Act, where
companies in India can take up activities for ensuring environmental
sustainability, ecological balance, protection of flora and fauna,
animal welfare, agroforestry, conservation of natural resources, and
maintaining the quality of soil, air and water.
As of May 2019, India has 869 protected areas covering 165,088.36
sq. km, which is 5.02% of the total geographic area of the country
(according to National Wildlife Database). Such a large landscape
requires sustained efforts and substantial funds to conserve, manage,
restore, recover and monitor wildlife, its population and the habitat.
There is too much emphasis on conservation only but seldom on
protection with long-term studies using scientific approaches. This
calls for a change in the conservation approach in India, wherein the
corporate agencies should initiate collaboration with scientific
institutions for developing strong and result-driven conservation plans.
Some business groups realise that biodiversity and development are
closely linked, and that the pressure of developmental activities on
biodiversity is not always positive. Here are the most successful CSR
projects in animal welfare in terms of effectiveness and impact:
The Muthoot Group – Human–elephant conflict management
The Muthoot Group’s logo displays elephants and the company has a
special interest in the conservation of the Indian elephant. It has
collaborated with WWF-India for managing Human–Elephant Conflict and
protecting elephant habitats. The company has donated 75,000 USD under
its CSR mandate to protect elephants across six Indian states, namely
Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, and the
company’s home state of Kerela.
The project for CSR in animal protection focuses on the development
and training of anti-depredation squads across elephant attack-prone
areas in these states. Funding for low-cost solar fences in villages and
electric fencing around agricultural fields is also provided.
Investment is also made on the use of advanced technology like
infrared motion sensors that work on the concept of detecting activity
(elephant) through sensors in the nearby areas and activating the alarms
in return. In addition, the villagers are equipped with torch and
searchlights to help them spot elephants and thus prevent damage to
crops, property and life.
Sony India Limited – Red panda and snow leopard conservation
Sony India is working for the conservation of red panda and snow
leopard in Arunachal Pradesh. The snow leopard can be found above a
certain height in the Himalayan states of India and is often called ‘the
ghost of the mountains’. It is usually hunted for fur, bones, meat and
other body parts for medicinal and other purposes.
On the other hand, red panda, the state animal of Sikkim, is mostly found in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim
and West Bengal (northern part). In addition to the threats of poaching
and habitat degradation, this species faces threat from feral dogs.
The project funded by Sony India in collaboration with WWFIndia
focused on estimating the population status and generating baseline data
for the two species. Other objectives of the CSR project included a
study on ecology, habitat requirements and potential threats.
Additionally, effective mitigation measures to prevent and manage human-wildlife conflicts have been developed and implemented.
The company also runs sustainable livelihood programmes for local
communities of the region, making them self-reliant and empowering them
to adopt alternate livelihoods, which has resulted in making them less
dependent on forest produce and minimizing likely human–wildlife
conflicts.
Tata Chemicals – Save the Asian Lion Project
The Gir National Park is the last fortress of the endangered Asiatic lion. One of the threats to these 400-plus lions are
open wells inside the National Park due to which several of them have
been killed in the past. In this context, in partnership with the State
Forest Department in Gujarat, Tata Chemicals launched a project in 2008 to save this species.
Through this project, parapet walls were built around open wells
which made them safe for lions and other wildlife. This helped in
reducing the mortality risk to Asiatic lions and other species due to
falling in open wells. To date, some 1204 open wells have been upgraded
at the cost of 126,840 USD, which is contributed by the Tata Group.
Tata Housing – Endangered species conservation
Tata Housing, collaborated with WWF-India and donated 60,400 USD during 2014–2015 and thereafter committed to contribute
a total of about half a million USD until 2018, for the conservation of
the Great Indian bustard in Desert National Park, Rajasthan; red panda
in Arunachal Pradesh, and one-horned rhinoceros in Laokhowa–Borachapori
Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam.
Tata Housing is also engaged in tiger conservation across six
landscapes of India, viz. Terai Arc, Sundarbans, Satpuda–Maikal, North
Bank, Kaziranga Karbi Anglong and the Western Ghats. The company has
helped by training the forest staff and providing them with protective
gear to curb poaching of tigers in these landscapes. In addition, the
frontline personnel of tiger reserves, national parks and sanctuaries
were provided with patrolling equipment such as GPS, compass,
binoculars, digital camera, LED torch, winter jackets, trekking shoes,
backpacks, mosquito nets, raincoats, patrolling vehicles, etc.
The company is also associated with snow leopard conservation in
Ladakh, which accounts for 5–10% of about 7000 snow leopards in the
world. Through a crowd funding effort with WWF-India, Tata Housing
worked towards awareness creation among the public about this vulnerable
species.
Rio Tinto India – Vulture Project
Rio Tinto Group is an Anglo-Australian metals and mining corporation
headquartered in London, UK. In India, the company went into State
Support Agreement with the Government of Madhya Pradesh for a mining
lease for the Bunder Diamond Project. The mining region of the project
in Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh has a flourishing bird population and is a
natural habitat for vultures. The Indian vulture, which is critically
endangered since 2002, has witnessed a huge decline in its population in
the recent past.
Rio Tinto and BNHS have partnered since 2014 with the aim to protect
the Indian vulture population by setting-up a ‘vulture safe zone’ of
about 32,000 sq. km around Bunder Diamond Project area. The project has
adopted a multipronged approach in which apart from monitoring and
tracking of vulture population, awareness among local people about
vulture conservation was also raised.
So far, about 20,000 locals have been educated about the
conservation significance and the role of vultures in the whole
ecosystem. Another major initiative was to monitor the use of banned
diclofenac (a veterinary drug used as a painkiller for cattles in the
past) through regular carcass sampling.
Aircel – ‘Save Our Tigers’ project
Aircel Ltd took up the ‘Save Our Tigers’ initiative in 2008 with an
aim to raise mass awareness about the status of tigers and their
conservation. The project helped introduce the concept of kid’s safari
with Sanctuary Asia ‘The Kids for Tigers Express’, which is a fully
equipped education and entertainment van that passes around the villages
in Ranthambore National Park and promotes awareness among the
communities about the need to protect the tigers.
In another initiative, Aircel partnered with the Wildlife Conservation Trust
to deploy and implement high impact on-ground projects. This initiative
was highly successful as it developed and deployed 41 rapid response
units in 35 tiger reserves, refurbished 1167 anti-poaching camps across
majority of the tiger reserves and trained a large number of frontline
forest guards in various aspects of conservation.
ONGC – Eastern Swamp Deer project
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) collaborated with the
Wildlife Trust of India in 2010, for the rescue of the endangered
subspecies of the eastern swamp deer. Kaziranga National Park in Assam
is the last remaining habitat of about 681 surviving animals of this
species in the world. Through this project, ONGC aimed for long-term
conservation of
this species and has donated a funding of 128,250 USD to the Assam
Forest Department for this cause. The conservation strategy involved the
estimation of population dynamics, threats and factors restricting the
growth and distribution of the eastern swamp deer. This also included
the development of new viable populations outside the Park, if required.
In 2007, ONGC in association with the Bombay Natural History Society
(BNHS) in Gujarat and Maharashtra, worked for the restoration of about
200 ha of degraded mangroves. The restoration work was carried out with
the help of local communities, who were trained initially and grouped
into mobile education units for conducting mangrove restoration work. In
the past, over 1000 such educational activities have been initiated by
teachers and students with a focus on conservation of
coastal biodiversity, involving about 60,000 students and 1500 teachers.
The awareness programme covered 20,000 locals of fishing community from
250 coastal villages and provided employment to 150 trained personnel
in Gandhar, Gujarat.
The mandate for CSR in animal protection can go far in reversing the
current loss of biodiversity and degradation of the ecosystem and its
services. The partnerships with business groups under the CSR Act to
conserve biodiversity, and using their experience to design enhanced
policies and programmes, can lead to better management of resources,
nature and ecosystem services. https://thecsrjournal.in/top-csr-in-animal-protection/
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