About Events

A national workshop on Workshop on ‘Mainstreaming Animal Issues in Disaster Risk Reduction’ was organised by the Policy Perspectives Foundation (PPF) and Sphere India (SI) under the aegis of the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Veterinary Council of India at the India International Centre, New Delhi on 22nd June 2022.

Shri Atul Chaturvedi, Secretary, Animal Husbandry (GoI) delivered the inaugural address. Introducing the subject, K M Singh, Vice President, PPF delivered Keynote address. The workshop also featured the release of ‘National Guidelines on Management of Animals in Disasters’, which is an initiative of Sphere India and NIDM. Shri Vikrant Mahajan, CEO, Sphere India explained the details relating to multi-stake holders’ coordination for management of animals in disasters has mentioned in the Guidelines.

Prominent speakers in this workshop included S/Shri Kamal Kishore, Dr. Krishna Vatsa (both Members, NDMA), Dr. Vinod Bhat (Secretary, Veterinary Council of India), besides senior level representatives from Rajasthan, Assam, Kerala, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and NDRF.

This workshop was organised in the light of the fact that a large number of animals perish in disasters every year, but there is no provision in the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to address this issue. Since animals constitute a primary source of livelihood for about two – third of rural population in India, it was considered relevant to organise this workshop with involvement of Key agencies at the apex level in the government to mainstream the issues relating to animal in disasters.

The objective of this workshop was to institutionalise animal related issues in disaster management framework, formulate and appropriate framework of coordination for multi-stakeholders and to initiate capacity building majors including awareness generation among stakeholders on management of animals in emergencies.

The recommendations in this workshop, inter-alia, include amendments to the Disaster Management Act, promoting training and capacity building initiatives, adopting a community-based approach towards animal protection in disasters and establishing Veterinary Emergency Response Units (VERU) in all veterinary institutions.

Associate Partners