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Forest department officials and participants after the workshop at Tshekwelu Community Reserve.[/caption]
Dimapur, May 20 (EMN): A workshop was organised by the Nagaland Forest department conducted a workshop on nature conservation for the community and students of Tshekwelu at the Tshekwelu Community Reserve.
A press release receive here on Sunday informed that the programme was attended by officers from the Forest department, village councils and GBs of Chizami, Enuhulumi, Thetsumi, Tsiipfume and Zelume villages, who form part of the Community Reserve; and students of Sacred Heart School, Chizami.
The programme was sponsored under the scheme of Community Reserve of the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India, New Delhi. The project proposal was prepared by Rongsenlemla, in 2015 as the District Forest Officer, Phek, it informed.
VCC Chizami, highlighted how villagers, hunters in the past became protector of the forest and wildlife. The chairman of Community Reserve Management Committee gave a brief background of the conservation history.
He said that villagers of the five villages took a decision in 1986 to protect an area of 1800 hectare for providing natural resources to the next generation on sustained basis on the principle of sustainable forest management, leading to sustainable development.
The chief wildlife warden of Nagaland, Satya Prakash Tripathi, said the genesis of the human-animal conflict is prevalent in the state.
He highlighted the policies of the state government and the MoEF& CC, GoI, for addressing the problem.
He also spoke on the importance of forest and wildlife, its scenario in Nagaland, details of community reserves for increasing protected area network in the state, and financial assistance to the communities.
“With notification of a forest into a Community Reserve, the ownership doesn’t change and the land is required to be used only for forestry and wildlife purpose, he siad.”
Wildlife warden, Kiphire, Suman W M Sivachar, spoke about the role of different wild animals and how they form an intricate part in the sustenance of life on the planet by citing examples.
The progressive thoughts and foresight of the village councils in playing a proactive role in reduction of water scarcity via conservation of forest and wildlife was appreciated was also emphasized.
He also conducted a quiz on wild animals for the students present at the event and highlighted interesting facts about the behaviour of various wild animals.
DFO Phek Velatso Demo spoke on responsibility of parents to sensitize their children in protecting wildlife.
Further, a copy of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 was handed over to each of the village councils and the issues of wildlife crime were highlighted.
The participants were stated to have agreed in principle to implement the act in totality. He appealed to the people for protection of wildlife and contact the department for compensation against damage of crops/property and human injury by wild animals.
