Diphu (Karbi Anglong): To bring home the importance of biodiversity conservation, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) Forest Department set up an elaborate stall at the 21st Karbi Lammet Amei (Karbi Literary Conference), recently held at Phuloni near Diphu. Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), supported by Japan Wildlife Conservation Society (JWCS), participated along with the Forest Department in the four-day event that ended last Monday. A four-member team from WTI attended the occasion to interact with people and provide information on various conservation issues. Several panels showcasing WTI’s work across the country were put up to familiarise people with different kinds of wildlife and habitat conservation efforts.

The event drew several thousand local people including women and children. Information on the rich biodiversity of Karbi Anglong was shared with the visitors and the urgent need to conserve it was stressed upon. They were also made aware of the vast wealth and uses of medicinal plants found in this region. Several of these medicinal plants were showcased at the stall. This raised a lot of interest in people.

Landscape models of pristine and degraded forests were on display; these highlighted and depicted the gravity of man-elephant conflict in Karbi Anglong. The models clearly illustrated what the loss of forest cover does to increase conflict; even children flocked to see the models. Each year, about 5-10 human lives are lost in such human animal conflicts in Karbi Anglong.

Additionally, 2000 saplings of agar (Aquilaria agallocha) and 2000 sandalwood (Santalum album) saplings were given out to visitors in jute bags at a nominal cost, to encourage afforestation.

“Biodiversity conservation is a ‘duty’ for every human being. This conference provided a platform to reach to out to the people and encourage them to conserve the rich natural heritage of Karbi Anglong. It also gave us an opportunity to express our commitment to work in partnership with the Forest Department and local people for biodiversity conservation in Karbi Anglong ,” said Dr Ujjal Kumar Sarma, Assistant Manager, WTI.