[Pisi Zauing]
MIAO, Aug 1: For the last couple of years, the deputy director of the Lower Dibang Valley-based Society for Education and Environmental Development (SEED), Minom Pertin, and his colleague, Roshan Upadhaya, have been experimenting with their cameras to capture various species of butterflies.
Pertin and Upadhaya have been actively working in Miao in particular, and have been organizing the Namdapha Butterfly Meet since 2018. They have successfully conducted two seasons, and are all set to host the North East Butterfly Meet 2019 at Namdapha in September.
The SEED is currently working in Itanagar, and in Upper Siang, Lower Dibang Valley and Changlang districts.
The Miao unit of the SEED is focusing on butterflies and trying to create more awareness among the young people, in order to bring them closer to nature.
For the last two years, the duo has been documenting the butterflies in and around Namdapha, and has so far recorded over 350 species of butterflies, of which some are very rare finds.
To channel students towards nature conservation, they have created ‘eco clubs’ in schools in Miao, and organized awareness programmes from time to time.
Some of their recent findings include the Aglais caschmirensis Kollar in Miao (which is a new low elevation record) and the Sinthusa nasaka (recently recorded from Namdapha and a first record from the state). Besides these findings, rare species like the saffron butterfly, the moth butterfly, the Zigzag Flat butterfly, the Centile Four Ring, etc, have also been recorded by Pertin and Upadhaya.
“Through our works, we are trying to contribute towards conservation of environment by creating awareness among youths and local people. We are trying to learn more about nature and bring more people into it, so that everyone can start thinking about nature’s importance,” Pertin said.
