GUWAHATI, 10 Jan: The legal and advocacy division (LAD) of scientific and industrial research organisation Aaranyak has chalked out a pilot strategy to set up community surveillance and monitoring teams (CSMT) to facilitate community participation in the conservation process as well as wildlife crime prevention in and around the Daying Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary (DEMWS) near Pasighat in East Siang district.
The DEMWS is a rich biodiversity area where wildlife policing has been a major problem because of lack of adequate forest staff and infrastructure inside the sanctuary where the vast grassland harbours a large number of bird species and is home to varied species of animals like the Asiatic buffalo, hog deer, barking deer, sambar, hispid hare, etc. The sanctuary forms part of the D/Ering-Dibru Saikhowa elephant corridor.
“The CSMTs, in addition to contributing towards prevention of wildlife crimes, will also explore creation of livelihood options for the fringe area community to reduce the tribal people’s dependence on the protected forest areas concerned and engage them in conservation efforts,” the organisation stated in a release.
In order to work out modalities for setting up CSMTs and their membership compositions, Aaranyak organised a workshop at its research office here in Assam on Monday to interact with two delegations of forest officials, community leaders and conservation workers from the DEMWS area in Pasighat and a few conservation workers engaged in community forest conservation work in Tamenglong district in Manipur, where, too, wildlife crimes are a major hurdle in conservation efforts because of lackadaisical implementation the the Wildlife (Protection) Act and lack of synergy between the state’s forest and police forces.
During the interaction, DEMWS DFO Tasang Taga underlined the urgent need to involve the community in prevention of poaching and other wildlife crimes occurring in and around the wildlife sanctuary.
A conservation leader from Manipur, Salam Rajesh, suggested that “efforts for CSMTs formation should be approached district by district in Manipur, and it should be started with Tamenglong district, where the community has been already doing some good job in conservation of biodiversity on their own.”
The LAD team of Aaranyak, led by acclaimed conservation scientist and Aaranyak CEO Dr Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, briefed the teams from Arunachal and Manipur on the global wildlife crime scenario and the alarming situation in the NE region, and highlighted how CSMTs can help check wildlife crimes in the region.
