World Turtle Day was observed on May 23 at various project sites of the Turtle Survival Alliance’s India program to raise awareness about the diversity and threats to the nation’s non-marine chelonians. TSA has been organising such education and awareness campaigns and events targeting various stakeholders along with its turtle conservation and research projects across the country to celebrate different dates of environment calendar since 2006. One event was held at the Turtle Conservation Centre along National Chambal Sanctuary River in Garhaita village, Etawah.

Student Shashwat Sirsi recently completed softshell turtle surveys in the southern Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh , focusing on the endemic, poorly known and highly endangered Leith's softshell, Nilssonia leithi.  The surveys were funded by a seed grant from the TSA and completed with the support of TSA India and our partner, the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust. Read the Final Report here . These surveys represent preliminary work and Shashwat has been given a six-month contract to complete additional surveys for N . leithii and Pelochelys cantorii in south India in 2011 as a full-time Project Officer with the TSA-MCBT India Program.

UPDATE: Download the final report from the workshop here .

Recently the Indian Turtle Conservation Program (ITCP), in association with Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and IUCN/SSC Tortoises and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group hosted the “Indian Freshwater Turtle and Tortoises Conservation Priority Areas & Initiatives” workshop and core-group meeting. The ITCP is a joint countrywide initiative of the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA), Madras Crocodile Bank Trust and San Diego Zoo Global to protect threatened freshwater turtles and tortoises and their habitats. The workshop was co-sponsored by the TSA, WWF-Canada, Cleveland Zoological Society, San Diego Zoo Global and Seksaria Sugar Factory.

The workshop took place October 22-24, 2010 in Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh. The main objectives of the meeting were to review the implementation of the 2005 TSA/MCBT “Conservation Action Plan for Indian Endangered Turtles and Tortoises” and to discuss and prioritize important turtle areas for conservation action across India, while reviewing their potential to support new programs. Participants also were tasked with identifying competent local partners and collaborators for key turtle conservation initiatives.