Nagaland’s renowned conservationist, Nuklu Phom is among the 15 names shortlisted for the prestigious “Whitley Awards 2021”, along with Assam’s Bibhuti Lahkar.
The duo are the only Indians to be shortlisted for this year’s awards from among the 106 applications received from across the globe for their exceptionally high standards, representing diverse approaches across a broad range of countries, habitats and species etc.
After a comprehensive assessment, top 15 candidates were identified for doing incredible work with communities to safeguard wildlife, habitats and the future of society for which name of the winners would be announced on May 12 this year, TFM report stated.
The Whitley Awards 2021 ceremony will be streamed live online from 7 p.m. onwards that day. To be hosted live by Whitley Fund for Nature (WFN) ambassadors Kate Humble and Tom Heap, the ceremony would honour six grassroots conservationists with Whitley Awards – providing winners with funding, training and profile. The finalists will be announced on the night, where it will also reveal the recipient of this year’s Whitley Gold Award – top prize for WFN alumni who have gone on to make an outstanding contribution to conservation.
In recognition of their work at Yaongyimchen Community Biodiversity Conservation Area (YCBCA), Lemsachenlok organization bagged the coveted India Biodiversity Award 2018 for conservation of wild species, initiated by government of India and United Nations Development Programme. Three villages under Longleng district- Yaongyimchen, Alayong and Sanglu, formed the YCBCA in 2007, maintained by a committee under the aegis of Lemsachenlok organisation.
The concept, spearheaded and initiated by churchman Nuklu Phom, has brought tremendous progress in sustainable bio-diversity in the area which has also become the largest roosting area for Amur Falcons. After several years of deliberation among the village councils at the initiative of Nuklu, the villagers decided to start YCBCA. They not only decided to sacrifice their jhum lands but resolved to transform around ten square km of a community-owned forest into a wildlife preserve.
Speaking to Nagaland Post, team leader and founder of Lemsachenlok and recipient of the Governor’s gold medal, Nuklu Phom, said the YCBCA area was earlier used as a Jhum fields. The area is now a safe haven for 85 species of birds, including Amur falcons, 15 species of frogs, as well as leopards, barking deer, serows and otters etc. The area has become one of the major roosting site for Amur Falcons in the state, he said.