Dr Simon Black (DICE/HR) invited by Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust to visit and review Pygmy Hog Conservation Project in Assam, India.
The pygmy hog, a terrier sized pig that inhabits the tall grasslands in the foothills of the Himalayas, is one of the most important of the region’s endemic species along with the golden langur and Hoolock gibbon, and the more familiar Indian Rhinoceros and Indian Tiger. The project to conserve pygmy hogs, which by the 1990s had been reduced to a single surviving population of just 150 animals in Manas National Park, has been established for 18 years in Guwahati, Assam, developing a captive collection of this unique species.
Dr Black’s review in December 2014, which he led with the support of Dr Erik Meijaard (Chairman of the International Union for Conservation of Nature/SSC Wild Pig Specialist Group) and Jamie Copsey of Durrell, identified a number of areas which the project management team will address to formulate a future strategy for the project. Dr Black worked with the local project director Dr Goutam Narayan and project manager Dr Parag Deka in Assam, visiting the project sites and meeting some of the key government officials involved in supporting the project.
Dr Black is an internationally recognised expert in organisation assessment. In 2010 he developed the Conservation Excellence Model to improve the effectiveness of work to save species and ecosystems and to reduce biodiversity loss. Over the past year he has supported organisations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean as part of his role supporting the Durrell Conservation Academy.
DICE is part of the University’s School of Anthropology and Conservation. The School runs the MSc in Conservation Project Management at Canterbury and a Postgraduate Diploma in Endangered Species Management with Durrell in Mauritius.