Former Eastern Mirror editor, Nagaland village get awards for protecting Amur falcons

ENS/EMN
GHY/DMP, NOVEMBER 7

Former Eastern Mirror editor Bano Haralu, Neihunuo Sorhie and Pangti village of Nagaland got Balipara Foundation Annual Awards today in Guwahati. The awards were given this evening at ITA Prag Jyoti Cultural Centre, Guwahati.
Bano Haralu was given the Balipara Foundation on Young Entrepreneur Award while Neihunuo Sorhie was awarded with Balipara Foundation on Naturenomics Award. Meanwhile, Pangti, the village in Nagaland that has drawn global attention by protecting thousands of Amur falcons that roost there for two months on their flight from Mongolia to South Africa, has won yet another award, this coming from the Balipara Foundation in Assam.
The Balipara Foundation Annual Award is an inter-disciplinary annual award presented to a government or non-governmental organization whose contribution to conservation of wildlife has gone beyond the call of duty and which has achieved success in the area of nature conservation.
While villagers had killed a large number of birds in the initial years of their taking the new route through Nagaland, not a single bird was killed since last year due to massive conservation efforts put in by various NGOs working in Pangti, which has earned recognition as the falcon capital of the world. In 2013, village councils of Pangti, Ashaa and Sungro signed a declaration making hunting of Amur falcons illegal and punishable, which helped in reaching a zero mortality rate by the end of the birds’ roosting period.
Pangti in Wokha district, about 120 kms from Kohima, the state capital, which has started attracting hundreds of tourists since last month, had earlier this won the Royal Bank of Scotland Conservation award too.