South Asia is one of the most ecologically diverse regions in the world, home to immense river systems that feed the world's largest mangrove swamps, as well as vast deserts and dense rainforests. It also houses more than half of the world's remaining wild tiger, Asian elephant, and Irrawaddy dolphin populations, the largest populations anywhere.
Challenges
There are three distinct challenges we must grapple with: habitat loss and degradation, unmanaged hunting, and wildlife-human conflict.
Our Goal
Ensure there are multiple thriving populations of all of South Asia's wildlife species.
How Will We Get There?
Our strategies include:
Conduct the focused, innovative, cutting-edge wildlife science that is the solid foundation of all our conservation efforts, and share the resulting knowledge freely and widely with the conservation community at large.
Provide technical support to official law enforcement agencies to ensure wildlife conservation laws are strong and enforced effectively.
Collaborate with governments and local communities to design and implement land and marine use management practices that are wildlife friendly as well as compatible with human developmental aspirations.
Assist all levels of government and local communities to devise and implement practical solutions to wildlife-human conflict that are tailored to each type of conflict that can arise.
Why WCS?
4protected areas
WCS provided technical support that helped lead to the creation of Bangladesh's first four protected areas dedicated to rare cetaceans, as well as the creation or expansion of nearly a dozen parks in India.
50+years
WCS has over 50 years of practical and successful wildlife conservation in South Asia that is informed by the most rigorous wildlife science. These efforts first began in the 1960s, through the pioneering tiger science and conservation efforts of Dr. George Schaller.