Chennai, May 19 (IANS) One of India’s leading mobile communications company, Nokia, Monday announced its partnership with World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-India in a tiger conservation programme in the country. On the occasion, WWF-India secretary general and CEO Ravi Singh said: “We are proud to partner with Nokia in India. Globally, Nokia has been involved in several conservation initiatives with the WWF network, and we 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. This is an important beginning at this critical time for conservation in our country.”

D. Shivakumar, vice president and managing director of Nokia-India, said: “The tiger population in India has seen an alarming decrease with their habitats shrinking and several threats, including poaching, taking a toll on their survival.”

“Nokia is a household name in India. Our commitment to India , to our consumers and to society is a priority for us. This initiative is one such commitment.”

“The tiger conservation project addresses the issues of alternative livelihood for local communities, environmental awareness and communications. The project will also look at some of the critical issues that southwestern ghats are facing today, including biodiversity loss and human wildlife conflict,” he added.

Nokia and WWF-India will work toward providing education to villagers near tiger reserves on sustainable development, increasing awareness on conservation, and identifying alternative livelihood programmes for the villagers around “National Protected Areas” such as Ranthambore in Rajasthan.

Nokia also has a robust community involvement programme in Sriperumbudur, Chennai, around its manufacturing facility, that has contributed immensely in improving the socio-economic fabric of the region and its employees, the company said here.

WWF-India, established as a charity in 1969, is the largest organization engaged in wildlife and nature conservation in the country.

As part of its initiative, WWF has showcased the “Tiger Wall of Hope”, which has been created out of original pugmarks embedded in plaster of paris encased in acrylic.

“These pugmarks are a grim reminder of the critical numbers of tigers left in our wild,” Singh said.