‘Isolated community conservation efforts no longer enough’

DIMAPUR — An inter-village meeting on Friday brought together villagers, conservationists, and government officials to review progress on community-led conservation efforts in Nagaland and discuss future plans.

The meeting, held under the under the IUCN- Integrated Tiger Habitat Conservation Programme (ITHCP) phase II project which is implemented by Wildlife Conservation –India, was held at Pellhang in Peren district.

Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) and member secretary of the Nagaland State Biodiversity Board, Supongnukshi Ao, addressed the participants comprising village council office bearers, youth and women leaders from the six beneficiary project villages– Besumpuikam, Ikiesingram, Manglamukh , Nkio-B, Nsenlo and Pellhang– and 20 youth partners of WCS-India in these villages.

According to an update, the CCF said that communities are often unaware of the rich biodiversity they possess and are inadvertently destroying it.

He also highlighted the board’s initiative to create People’s Biodiversity Reports across 1270 villages in Nagaland with the participation of communities in every village.

This exercise will document all indigenous flora and fauna and their properties. A beginning has been made in this direction and this would gather momentum in the coming days, he said.

Partnerships for conservation

Chairman, of the Nagaland Community Conservation Area Forum (NCCAF) Heirang Lungalung, emphasised the importance of collaborations for conservation.

“Conservation efforts by villagers in isolation are no longer enough and that the time has come to forge partnerships for conservation across landscapes”, he said, adding that the NCCAF is working to facilitate partnerships.

He also informed that any village setting aside 5 square kilometers of village land for conservation measures could become a member of the NCCA Forum, with INR 5000 as a lifetime membership fee.

In cases where a village doesn’t fulfil the 5 sq. km requirement, they can still join the NCCA F if they have a record of endangered species on their land, he said.

Field Director of the Intangki National Park, Aochuba outlined the potential for tourism in the park, and said that for such an outcome fringe community support and participation are pre -requisites.

Further, Peren DFO, Dr. Prabhat Kumar called for a change of “mindset” in how the one perceives and manages natural resources. Without this inner adjustment of man towards the environment, issues such as deforestation, hunting, and over exploitation of natural resources would remain a challenge, he said.

He added that the department would be willing to assist the village in skill development trainings.

During the interactive session the participants drew attention of the speakers to the absence of minor bridges over the rivers namely, Intangki, Duinaki and the Monglu river.

They said they remain cut off during the monsoon and are unable to transport their farm produce, causing them immeasurable loss year after year.

Responding to this grievance the speakers advised the participants to raise the request formally to the District Planning Committee and the Peren DFO also assured the participants that the issue would be raised in the next DPC meeting.

The update informed that since September 2023, WCS-India has been implementing the IUCN/ITHCP -Phase II, “Partnering with communities to strengthen conservation of critical tiger habitats in northeast India” in Nagaland.

The project covers six selected villages located in the fringes of the Intangki National Park. The work focuses on community led conservation and building the capacity of the youth as they participate in mapping the resources of the community with the use of GPS, camera traps, herbarium collection and conservation awareness education activities.

The two-day meeting was organised to receive feedback on the implementation of various livelihood and community infrastructure projects. These include works such as rain-water harvesting systems, agri-cum marketing sheds, upgradation and furnishing of existing community guest houses and the construction of silkworm rearing sheds, it said.