As part of the human-animal conflict mitigation campaign being conducted across Nagaland, an awareness and interaction programme with the public was conducted by Kiphire Wildlife Division of Environment, Forests and Climate Change on June 24 at the dobashish court hall of Meluri, Phek district.
Additional principal chief conservator of Forests, Dharmendra Prakash as chief guest applauded the conservation efforts of the public. While sharing on his personal experiences and examples of successes, he urged the public to share their suggestions.
Wildlife warden Kiphire, Suman W M Sivachar enlightened on the position, policies of the state government and MoEFCC to the public. The virgin forests of Phek contain flora and fauna that were unique not only to the region but also to the entire world, he added.
Village leaders explained in detail the efforts taken by the villages in the area towards conservation, banning of hunting and reduction of jhum cultivation. The villagers requested for usage of camera traps in the region to identify more fauna species in the region. They requested additional inputs from the department on management of abandoned jhum lands. The participants also acknowledged the efforts of Rongsenlemla, DFO Kohima.
A total of 110 members including Throtingba EAC Meluri, Chiilekhu president Pochury Hoho, Pochury Mothers Association, Women Welfare Society Meluri town, Kenei officer-in-charge Meluri, staff from administration, police, forest and allied departments, village leaders from 27 villages, women and children attended the event.The program was sponsored by MoEFCC, Government of India, New Delhi.
The program was chaired by Seichutho Katiry, range forest officer, Phek Forest Division and welcome address by Velatso, DFO Phek.