Focusing on empowering the aspiring wildlife researchers, leading environmental conservation organization WildTeam’s two-day workshop titled ‘Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme’ was inaugurated on Sunday at the Padma Conference Room, Cosmos Centre in the capital’s Malibagh.

The workshop aims to provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to plan, design and conduct successful wildlife research projects, covering a range of topics including the principles of research design, field data collection techniques, data analysis, and report writing. The workshop is also designed to provide the participants with the latest tools and technologies used in wildlife research, including GPS tracking, remote sensing, and camera traps.

On Sunday morning, the workshop was formally launched with an inaugural speech session, followed by the introduction to the course module. Imran Ahmed, Conservator of Forests, Wildlife and Nature Conservation Circle, Bangladesh Forest Department joined the introductory session as the guest of honor.

Read more: Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation: WildTeam hosting workshop at Cosmos Centre on Feb 26-27

Chaired by Enayetullah Khan, Founder of WildTeam and Chairman of Cosmos Foundation, the introductory session was moderated by Dr Md Anwarul Islam, CEO and spokesperson for WildTeam and also joined by.Caren Blume, Head of Development Section, the Embassy of Germany in Dhaka, and Dr Elke Hellstern, Member of the Programme Council, Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme at the KFW Development Bank, Germany.

“People in Bangladesh are consistently becoming aware about wildlife conservation, and the government is implementing several effective regulations regarding this vital issue. We have been working with WildTeam for several years, and I highly appreciate this workshop initiative towards our aspirant researchers,” Imran Ahmed said at the introductory session.

Enayetullah Khan said, “WildTeam has been working on conservation for several years and we are trying to influence our Education Minister to introduce the topic of conservation as a subject in our curriculum, to initiate large-scale conversations on the value of conservation. So imagine, if we could incorporate it in our official service, I think that would be a wonderful prospect and I hope we will be able to pursue it with the Ministry of Education.”

“We have established a Wildlife Conservation Biology Center (WCBC) in the Sundarbans and I think by June we are going to start, hopefully - and I would personally encourage you all to visit this place. I was there very recently, and I was so excited about getting permission from the government to establish a forest museum, which would be a wonderful place for our children to go and learn about wildlife conservation,” Enayetullah Khan added.

The WildTeam workshop is an exclusive collaboration with the Bangladesh Forest Department, Wildlife Trust of India, Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka University, Jagannath University, and Noakhali University of Science and Technology.

On the first day of the workshop, several training seminars took place, providing insightful demographics and guidelines to the aspirant researchers. Dr Rajiv Kalsi, former Professor at the Department of Zoology, MLN College, Yamunanagar in Haryana, India, conducted two sessions on the first half of the day titled ‘Introduction to sampling methodologies for ecological studies’ and ‘Introduction to species richness and diversity’.

The second part of the inaugural day sessions was conducted by Dr Kamalika Bhattacharyya, Assistant Manager at the Protected Area and Species Recovery Divisions, Wildlife Trust of India. She conducted sessions on ‘Introduction to occupancy studies’ and ‘Use of Camera traps for monitoring wildlife’.

“This is the first time that researchers from India and Bangladesh are gathering and sharing their thoughts, knowledge, and practice initiatives on what should be done for the betterment of wildlife conservation, and we are delighted with the hospitality of WildTeam and enthusiastic participation of our young aspirant researchers,” Dr Rajiv Kalsi told UNB.

The two-day workshop is scheduled to cover a range of topics, including the principles of research design, field data collection techniques, data analysis, and report writing. In addition, participants will learn about the latest tools and technologies used in wildlife research, including GPS tracking, remote sensing, and camera traps.

United News of Bangladesh is the Media Partner of this exclusive workshop, which will conclude tomorrow after hosting a total of six sessions on different topics regarding wildlife conservation.