WWF and Nokia join hands to save the tiger Conservation Need of the hour Mobile communications company Nokia India, has announced its partnership with conservation organisation WWF-India, that it will be involved in WWF-India's Tiger conservation programme. This announcement was jointly made by Ravi Singh, Secretary General and CEO, WWF-India, and D. Shivakumar, vice president and Managing Director, Nokia India, at a recent event in Mumbai. Ravi Singh, WWF-India, said, "Nokia has been involved in several conservation initiatives with the WWF Network and are happy to see this relationship extend here. "This is an important step in bringing corporate institutional support for conservation, significantly tiger conservation, in India. "It is an important beginning at this critical time for conservation in our country.' Alarming decrease He continued: "The tiger population in India has seen an alarming decrease with habitats shrinking and the threat posed by poaching. To create a healthy ecological balance we need to work towards building long term sustainable models for wildlife conservation such that our future generations can experience the joy and beauty of our varied flora and fauna.' He added: "The tiger conservation project will address the issues of alternative livelihood for local communities, environmental awareness and communications. It will also look at some of the critical issues that South Western Ghats are facing today, including biodiversity loss and human wildlife conflict.' Wall of hope The event marked the unveiling of the "Tiger Wall of Hope' by Priya Dutt, MP, in the presence of eminent personalities. The Tiger Wall is created out of original pugmarks embedded in Plaster of Paris encased in acrylic. About the Tiger Wall, Singh said: "These pugmarks are a grim reminder of the critical numbers of tigers left in the wild.' Nokia and WWF-India will work towards providing education to the villagers on sustainable development, increasing awareness on tiger conservation, and identifying alternative livelihood programmes around "National Protected Areas' such as the Ranthambore national park and others. Energy efficiency and climate strategy are other important areas of continuous performance improvement by Nokia. In India, the Nokia-WWF partnership is extending this global vision to focus on local environment .