Six fringe villages of Intangki National Park review conservation initiatives by WCS-India

June 30, 2024 9 Views No Comment

Peren, June 30 (MExN): “We are destroying biodiversity without even knowing what we have,” said CCF and member secretary of the Nagaland State Biodiversity Board, Supongnukshi Ao (IFS) while addressing the participants of the Inter Village Meeting under the IUCN/ITHCP-Phase II Project being implemented by Wildlife Conservation-India.

The participants at the two-day event were the village council office bearers, youth and women leaders from the six beneficiary project villages namely, Besumpuikam, Ikiesingram, Manglamukh , Nkio-B, Nsenlo and Pellhang and 20 youth partners of WCS-India in these villages.

An update received here stated that the CCF said, “The mandate of the Nagaland State Biodiversity Board is to create a People’s Biodiversity Report 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.

The other invitees to the meeting included the Chairman, Nagaland Community Conservation Area Forum (NCCAF) Heirang Lungalung; Field Director of the Intangki National Park; Aochuba (IFS) and DFO Peren, Dr Prabhat Kumar (IFS).

Addressing the meeting, Heirang Lungalung said, “conservation efforts by villagers in isolation are no longer enough” and that the time has come to forge partnerships for conservation across landscapes.’ He added NCCAF is working towards this end and any village setting aside 5 sq kms of village land for conservation measures could become a member of the NCCA Forum with Rs 5000 as a lifetime membership fee.

However, if a village has a record of an endangered species but does not fulfil the requirement of 5sq kms for a CCA it could still be considered to protect the species, he added.

In his address, Aochuba (IFS) threw light on the potential for tourism in the Intangki National Park but for such an outcome fringe community support and participation are pre -requisites.

DFO Jalukie Dr Prabhat Kumar (IFS) called for a change of “mindset” in how we perceive and manage 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 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. The DFO Peren also assured the participants that the issue would raised in the next DPC meeting.

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” 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.

In : Nagaland