GUWAHATI, Apr 27: Members of village development councils from Kheroni and Dhansiri areas under Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) were sensitised on the important role they could play in prevention of wildlife crime in two well-attended back-to-back workshops organised at Kheroni and Dhansiri. The workshops were held under the aegis of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) in collaboration with Aaranyak .
Aaranyak, the NGO in its press statement issued through its publicity secretary Dr. Alolika Sinha informed that the workshops were carried out at Kheroni and Dhansiri on April 24 and 25 with a combined attendance of more than 200 participants including gaon burahs, town committee members, local villagers and school students besides police and forest department staffs.
Special PCCF SS Rao who attended Kheroni workshop, underscored importance of village development council members in sharing relevant information on wildlife crime. He appreciated both WCCB and Aaranyak for conducting such workshop in such interior places, where wildlife crime and trade of wildlife overlap and go undetected. Divisional Forest Officers (DFO) and Forest Range Officers of respective divisions coordinated and provided all logistics support for holding these workshops.
Resource team from WCCB comprising Jawaharlal Baro, Assistant Director and Nabajit Barman, Operational Assistant discussed about the relevance of wildlife protection laws and role of village councils to prevent the same.
Aaranyak’s resource team comprising Dr Jimmy Borah, Senior Manager and Ms. Ivy Farheen Hussain, Project Officer highlighted the importance of Karbi Anglong landscape and wildlife crime scenario with a local perspective, respectively, the NGO said.
Biodiversity Board chairperson, Pranab Nunisa who attended Dhansiri workshop, mentioned about the need to provide livelihood options to local communities so that they do not engage in wildlife crimes.
All the resources persons flagged those areas under KAAC like Dhansiri which are located along the Assam-Nagaland boundary, witnessed several instances of wildlife crime happening due to inadequate monitoring of inter-state movements of wildlife criminals. Awareness on wildlife crimes among the local communities plays a vital role in keeping those under check in those areas. As illegal wildlife trade occurs due to demands of product from other areas, information sharing by local communities when they become aware of the problem, can deter such incidences, the press statement concluded.