Conserving river dolphins on the Brahmaputra
© Samuel Turvey/ZSL
Conservation strategies
©Samuel Turvey/ZSL
Our long-term conservation programme is helping local communities and organisations to conserve the Ganges River dolphin and its key habitats in the Brahmaputra. It involves research and monitoring, capacity building, environmental awareness and participatory conservation action.
Read about our conservation strategies.
Thank you to the Darwin Initiative, whose funding has helped make this project possible.
Threats
©Sandeep Kumar Behera, WWF-India
Gangetic river dolphins are among the most threatened large mammals.Following the extinction of the Yangtze River dolphin, the Ganges and Indus River dolphins are now the world’s most endangered freshwater cetaceans.
The regions they inhabit have high human population density, overexploited resources and environmental degradation, escalating pressures on local biodiversity.
Read about threats to Asian river dolphins.
Conservation in action
Nadia Richman/ZSL
ZSL conservation scientists have been working to conserve gangetic river dolphins in this area in many ways. Recent projects include data collection from dolphin mortalities to determine major causes of death and interviewing local communities about their attitudes to their fellow river-dwellers.
More from the field
Our in-country partners:
- Aaranyak : primary conservation NGO in northeast India, in-country coordinator of the Gangetic Dolphin Research & Conservation Programme.
- Department of Environment & Forest (DoEF) : wildlife management authority under Govt. of Assam.
- Wildlife Institute of India : premier wildlife research organisation in India under Ministry of Environment & Forest, Govt. of India.
Follow this project
Keep up to date with our dolphin team in the Brahmaputra by following them on Twitter.
