Award won, but conservation challenges stand in Nagaland’s way

EMN
Dimapur, February 13

A documentary film about conservation in Nagaland won an award in Mumbai recently offering what can be seen as an impetus to augment efforts in Nagaland. The film, ‘Nagaland is changing. But…’ won the Golden Beaver Award at this year’s 6th National Science Film Festival in Mumbai on Saturday.
‘Nagaland is changing, but..’ was named the Best Film in the category of films made by institutions. The film is also said to have received the technical excellence award for best sound design. The prize money for both these awards is Rs. 1 lakh and Rs 20,000 respectively. Director of the film, Gurmeet Sapal received the award from noted filmmaker MS Sathyu in Mumbai.
The film was produced by Nagaland State Forest department and made with the technical collaboration with TERI in Delhi and was directed by Gurmeet Sapal, the press release stated.
In a congratulatory message, Nagaland’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests M Lokeswara Rao said that the film receiving the Golden Beaver Award at the National Science Film Festival was a tribute to the communities of the state are endeavouring to ensure that conservation policies of the state and actual ground work go hand in hand.
“The real champions are communities of Nagaland who are protecting and conserving these areas since time immemorial. With the screening of film in 6th National Science Film Festival, in Mumbai the whole world came to know the dedication of communities in conserving these areas and which are rich in carbon pool, the communities are preserving to mitigate Climate Change,” Rao remarked in his message. “They should get enough support from government of India and International organisation.”
Conservation & associated problems
However, there is much to be done. There are community hunting practices for food and even for economic reasons. Jhum cultivation is another. Little is known about the wildlife of Nagaland. Published works on the wildlife of the area are scarce. In 1872-73, Major H.H. Godwin-Austen and then in 1950, S. Dillon Ripley made brief but interesting bird observations in parts of Nagaland (Ripley,1952).
Habitat destruction by legal and illegal tree felling for commercial use and jhum cultivation, and poaching for meat are the major threats to the wildlife of Nagaland. All the major species of mammals as well as birds are seriously threatened and if concrete measures are not taken, many species are going to be locally extinct within the next few decades.
According to NRSA (National Remote Sensing Agency), in 1980-82, the total forest cover in Nagaland was 49 % of the total geographical area of which actual good quality (closed) forest was only 29.8 % (Choudhury, 1986)­ considering the rapid destruction of forest throughout the north-east, the good quality forest in Nagaland may now be less than 20 %, that too fragmen­ted. One more problem is that the Government controlled reserved forest accounts for only.7 % of the total area of the state while the rema­ining areas belong to the people. Hence, for any successful conservation, active participation of the villagers is a must.
Since most of the animals are considered edible, hunting and poaching for meat is a serious threat to the survival of wildlife especially the endangered ones. Decrease of habitat and improvement of fire-arms have worsened the situation.
So far four wildlife sanctuaries have been created, Intanki (202 sq km), Fakim (6.4 sq km), Pulie Badge (9.2) and Rangapahar (4.7 sq km). However, enforcement is inadequate and three sanctuaries are too small to be viable for long-term conservation.
Creation of more protected areas including a larger one in Tuensang district, especially encompassing Saramati within it, a massive aware­ness campaign with the help of Church leaders and NGOs, ban on logging in steep slopes as well as remaining patches of primary forest, and better enforcement in the existing protected areas are recommended. (Source: nagenvis.nic.in)