Bettiah, 9 March 2025: Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) organised a one-day media workshop highlighting the importance of “Cooperation Between Media and Forest Staff” towards effective Human-Wildlife Conflict mitigation, at Bettiah. Forty-one forest staff including range officers, foresters and forest guards from eight forest ranges of the Valmiki Tiger Reserve and three forest ranges of the Bettiah Forest Division, Bihar participated in the workshop. Another workshop on “Impactful Reporting on Dynamics of Human-Wildlife Interactions in Conservation” was organised for 20 local media professionals on the 7^th of March.

Media workshop for forest department at Valmiki | Photograph by WTI

Mr. Virat Singh, Head of the Communications at ASAR and member of the IUCN SSC Group on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence, led the technical sessions highlighting the 5 Cs i.e. Clarity, Consistency, Connection, Credibility and Content in journalism. “Media is a key stakeholder in mitigating human- wildlife conflict. It is important that the forest department engages with media professionals regularly, especially during human- wildlife crisis situations. This will help effective sharing of information and guide all stakeholders towards the common goal”, he quoted.

Dr Samir Kumar Sinha, Chief Ecologist & Joint Director at Wildlife Trust of India, presented the findings of the recent survey on “Knowledge and Perception of the forest staff towards human-wildlife conflict.” The result showed the importance of external agencies like media, local governance and communities in tiger and leopard conservation awareness.

Dr. Neshamani K., Field Director at Valmiki Tiger Reserve, who chaired the event, also emphasised the role of media in wildlife conservation towards influencing positive public perception.

Mr. Atish Kumar, DFO, Bettiah Forest Division, Mrs Simmi Naina Priya, ACF, Division-1, Valmiki Tiger Reserve and Dr. Disha Sharma, Project Manager at Chester Zoo, U.K. were also present in the workshop.

These media workshops were a part of the ‘Living with Large Carnivores – Integrative Coexistence through Community Empowerment,’ project, which is being implemented by WTI in the Valmiki Tiger Reserve. The project, supported by the Darwin Initiative Grant of the Government of the United Kingdom and implemented in collaboration with Chester Zoo, UK, aims to reduce human-large carnivore conflict in the landscape and foster harmonious coexistence between communities and wildlife.