An one day community workshop on “Benefits
of Wildlife Conservation” was organized by the Shergaon Forest Division,
on the occasion of National Wildlife Week in the Shergaon Community Hall on 11th
October, 2011 with the objective to understand the composition of wildlife in
the region, their value and threats faced and to instill a sense of pride over
the resources supported by communities; to stress the need to manage our
wildlife resources by understanding the benefits of wildlife
conservation and to evolve a participatory
action plan for better conservation based on traditional and modern knowledge. The
workshop was attended by Gaon buras, Government officials, VFMC members and
members of the public.
Umesh Srinivasan, National Center for
Biological Sciences, Bangalore introduced the audience to the wildlife of
western Arunachal Pradesh, their value and threats. For example,
only 7 pairs of the babbler bird Bugun
liocichla, has been reported in the eagle nest wildlife sanctuary and this
bird is not found anywhere else. Some other wildlife commonly found in this region
are flying squirrel, golden cat, laughing thrust, parrot billed, sun bird,
false cobra, krait, loris etc. Hunting posed a major threat especially to the
larger mammals whose breeding rate is not very fast.
K Mazumdar, WWF-India threw light on
the benefits of wildlife conservation especially the
tangible benefits apart from the environmental advantages. He stressed on the
close association of tribal people with the nature and wildlife resources.
Loss of wildlife would lead to loss of certain customary practices. For
example, if the hornbill gets extinct, then how would the tribal people
decorate their headgears? Conservation could be done through people’s
participation through Community Conserved Areas (CCA) by initiating community
based tourism activities like bird watching, trekking, home stays, local
guides, etc. He explained the CCA model at
Zemithang, the development of facilities, income options generated and economic
impacts of the project. Conservation initiatives like high altitude wetland conservation
were also explained to villagers.
Millo Tasser, ACF,
Shergaon Forest Division documented the local wildlife in local Sherdukphen
language through a delightful interactive session. Pictures of the animals were
shown to the audience; their unique characteristics explained and on the basis
of which the audience were requested to identify the animals in their local
language. The villagers could identify most of the animals but only few birds.
Especially the smaller birds remained unidentified.
K.S. Jayachandran,
Divisional Forest Officer, Shergaon Forest Division talked about main
aspects of the Wildlife Protection Act as well as the government schemes on conservation such as Sacred Groves, unique eco systems
like wetlands, community reserves and Compensatory Afforestation linked Village
Forest Reserves (VFR). Villagers were interested in availing the benefits of
different schemes discussed and an action plan was devised regarding framing of
proposals.
Ms. M. Taipodia
Jini, Circle Officer, Shergaon moderated discussions about the reasons for reduction of forests, wildlife
commonly seen and those not seen nowadays, wildlife conflicts, local laws
against hunting and its implementation and the various traditional practices
which conserved forests and wildlife.
An exhibition of paintings was also
conducted on the sidelines of the workshop through painting competitions
conducted jointly by
Shergaon Forest Division and WWF-India, Tezpur
focusing on wildlife and its conservation for school children of Rupa,
Singchung, Tenga, Shergaon and Kalaktang. The list of winners in the painting competition can be accessed here.
Please click here to download the proceedings of the workshop.
Please click here to download the proceedings of the workshop.
