The foundation stone of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Category 2 Centre on World Natural Heritage Management and Training for Asia and the Pacific Region was laid at Wildlife Institute of Indiaon 30 August 2014 by Shri. Prakash Javadekar, the Hon’ble Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (Independent Charge), Government of India.The Centre’s mission is to strengthen implementation of World Heritage Convention in Asia and the Pacific Region by building the capacity of all those professionals and bodies involved with World Natural Heritage Site Inscription, Protection, Conservation and Management in Asia and the Pacific Region, through training, research, dissemination of information and network building. The Centre will (a) conduct short-and long-term capacity-building activities, including workshops, courses and international conferences; (b) undertake research on identified priority areas related to Natural World Heritage protection and management, with particular focus on models of community participation; (c) develop and maintain a documentation Centre accessible to the public on Natural World Heritage issues relevant to the region, (d) implement programmes for the exchange of experts with other regional resource Centres and (e) facilitate the development of a World Heritage site managers' regional network and coordinate its activities with the States Parties to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention and the network of existing Category 2 Centres related to World Heritage. While UNESCO has established such Centres in eight other countries viz. China, Norway, South Africa, Bahrain, Mexico, Italy, Brazil and Spain on Culture Heritage, the Centre at WII is the world’s first Centre dealing with Natural World Heritage.

In the event organized to commemorate the foundation stone laying of UNESCO Centre at WII, Dr. V.B. Mathur, Director of WII provided an overview of the Centre and highlighted that this Centre marks the global recognition of WII’s strength to contribute to national as well as international efforts to preserve Natural Heritage. The Hon’ble Union Minister Shri. Prakash Javadekar, in his address to large gathering of professionals and staff (http://youtu.be/2bjOuKbzydI), credited the efforts of WII including the establishment of UNESCO Centre and various applied research projects providing space for integrated development and conservation planning. He elaborated on his keen interest and appreciation of nature and reiterated his commitment for safeguarding the natural wealth of the country. He welcomed the role played by WII in providing technical advices to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change and pledged support for overall welfare of the organization and nation building.

The foundation stone laying and subsequent commemorate events were attended by various dignitaries including Dr. S.S. Garbyal, Director General of Forests & Special Secretary to Govt. of India, Shri. A.K. Srivastava, Additional Director General of Forests, MoEFCC, Chief Executives and senior officials of sister Organizations in Dehradun and WII family members consisting of faculty members, staff, research fellows and students. During the event, the Hon’ble Minister released an ENVIS Bulletin on ‘Coastal and Marine Protected Areas in India: Challenges and Way Forward’, edited by Dr. K. Sivakumar, Scientist-E of WII. As a token of appreciation and gratitude, the Hon’ble Minister was also presented with newly created line drawing of the Institute’s campus by Director WII, Dr. V.B. Mathur and a framed photograph of a rare plant, Brahma Kamal (Saussurea obvallata), found in the high altitutes of the Himalaya, by Dr. B.S. Adhikari, Scientist-E of WII.In the end, Dr. P.K. Mathur, Dean of WII, summarized the entire process and duly acknowledged the Hon’ble Minister and all others who participated in the event

The 68^th Independence Day was celebrated at the Wildlife Institute of India with the unfurling of the national flag by Dr. V.B. Mathur, Director, Wildlife Institute of India in the Institute’s foyer. Addressing the gathering of Institute’s faculty, staff, researchers and students Dr. Mathur recalled the supreme sacrifices made by millions of Indians during the freedom struggle leading to Indian independence on 15^th August, 1947. He emphasized on the need to dedicate in the task of both nation and institution building. He enumerated some of the recent changes introduced in the Institute’s functioning and urged everyone to contribute towards achieving excellence in all institutional activities.

On this occasion awards were given to 5 employees of the Institute viz. Shri Pyar Chand Aswal, Shri Vijay Prasad, Shri N.K. Chettri, Shri Suresh Kumar and Smt. Sadhna Verma for maximum use of words in Hindi language in their official work.

A tree planting programme followed the flag hoisting in which children of Institute’s faculty and staff planted saplings of flowering trees/shrubs.

In a significant step to boost academic, research and training activities involving international partnership, Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun and University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), marking beginning of a formal collaboration between these two premier institutions of learning of international repute. Dr.V.B. Mathur, Director WII and Dr. John Innes, Dean UBC signed this broad based MoU which will facilitate collaborative courses, projects, workshops/seminars and academic exchange visits of faculty members, researchers and students. After signing the MoU, Dr. V.B. Mathur said “WII has always valued collaborative engagement and partnerships with reputed institutions and in this specific case, in addition to working jointly on various activities of mutual interest and expertise, WII would aim to utilize the expertise of UBC for establishing a state-of-the-art Visualization Laboratory as a priority and and also initiate joint activities looking into aspects of ecosystem services and life cycle assessment of India’s key landscapes”. The MoU, which has been duly approved by concerned ministries of Government India, is initially for five years, with scope for further extension as required. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Jorma Neuvonen, Director-Special Projects, UBC re-iterated the collective interest of UBC faculties in initiating collaborative activities with WII in identified thematic areas including climate change. Dr. P.K. Mathur, Dean WII, shared the details of MoU with the faculty members present on this occasion and suggested mechanism for initiating joint activities. Dr. K. Ramesh, Scientist, who is coordinating the collaboration, proposed a Vote of Thanks to the visiting two-member delegation from UBC and all those instrumental in making the collaboration possible.