New Delhi, April 20, 2007: In an extraordinary gesture, a tribal village in Selbalgre in the
Eastern Indian state of Meghalaya has declared today their first officially
notified Village Wildlife Reserve, a development which can be termed as first of its kind in the state.
The village, which is located about 20 kilometers from the Tura
district headquarters, is an important Hollock Gibbon (Bunopithecus hoolock)
habitat.
"This is a welcome move, and is quite unique, since the villagers
themselves have decided to keep aside some of their land for wildlife
conservation." Dr. Rahul Kaul of WTI said.
This development has come, following a project initiated by Wildlife
Trust of India with support from the British High Commission to study the
role of the District Councils for protection of forest and wildlife.
The area comprises about 500 hectares - 5 sq kms of forests, which may
be expanded in the near future, as villagers have shown willingness to
give more land.
WTI has been working closely with the Autonomous District Councils in
the state to empower and strengthen them for protection of forests and
wildlife.
In the recent past, WTI had conducted several discussions with the
Council Members, the Nokmas (Village head) and others for helping them to
take good decisions.
The objective of the project is also to come out with a policy document
which will help the councils to tackle contemporary issues on wildlife
conservation.
As part of this project, WTI has been collecting information on the
forest resource extractions by the villagers and also produced forest
cover maps to help in the study.
In December last year, The Garo Hills Autonomous District Council
(GHADC) by a notification (No.CF.430/CW/ADC/06/3252-58) had constituted a
Wildlife Monitoring Committee to suggest measures for wildlife
conservation in areas which are under their jurisdiction.
The GHADC Chairman is heading the seven member committee with
representatives from WTI.
The main task of this committee is to identify areas where conservation
actions can be initiated.
The committee had approached the Nokma of the Selbalgre village to know
the opinion of the villagers on the proposed reserve, which was
willingly accepted by them.
Presently, the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council has 30 members
and is responsible for the welfare of the villages in its control.
Rampant tree feeling for Jhum cultivation by tribes-people has
disturbed the sensitive ecosystem, and could lead to a serious ecological
disaster in the near future.
The harmful consequences of this practice in the state are already
visible. Lack of rainfall coupled with little forest cover to retain the
under ground water has created water scarcity in some areas.
"The villagers have welcomed the move, since they understood that the
improvement of vegetation cover will improve water retention in the
area." Dr. Kaul said.
Related Website: http://www.wildlifetrustofindia.org/
Irina Ningthoujam, Asst Programme Officer (Communication), Wildlife Trust of India , supplied this Press Release to e-pao.net .
She can be contacted at irina(at)wti(dot)org(dot)in .
This Press Release was webcasted on April 21st, 2007
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