Bansbari (Greater Manas): Working to secure Greater Manas, the Assam Forest Department, Bodoland Territorial Council and International Fund for Animal Welfare – Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI) provided support to various stakeholders to strengthen conservation initiatives in the landscape, at an event held today in Bansbari.

The event also kickstarted a series of focused capacity building trainings for the frontline staff here, under the ‘Van Rakshak Project’ banner that has till today trained and equipped about 9,000 frontline staff across the country.

Greater Manas is a critical wildlife habitat along the Indo-Bhutan border in Bodoland, Assam, supporting a wide range of wildlife including the Asian elephant and the Royal Bengal tiger. A concept, formally adopted by the BTC government, the landscape extends over 1500 sq km covering Manas National Park, Manas Reserve Forest and Ripu-Chirang Reserved Forests.

Exploited heavily during the decades of civil unrest, the landscape suffered heavy losses in terms of its natural heritage, most notable being the extirpation of rhinos from Manas National Park. Extensive damage to wildlife and their habitats in Manas NP also caused UNESCO to enlist the World Heritage as ‘in danger’.

“During the late 80s, Manas lost a lot… but it did not lose everything,” said Anindya Swargowari, Field Director, Manas Tiger Reserve. “And now, working with the NGOs here, we have been gradually restoring Manas to its former glory.”

Helping the Forest Department and BTC reverse the trend since the restoration of peace in early 2000s, IFAW-WTI has been implementing the holistic ‘Bringing back Manas’ initiative to restore Manas to its former glory. This included, among others, the reintroduction of rhinos in Manas NP since 2006, paving way for the repopulation of the species. The activities under this initiative led to the reinstatement of Manas as a World Heritage in June last year.

“The Forest Department and BTC assisted by communities, community-based organisations and NGOs like ours will need to continue the fight to secure Manas. Seeing the improvement… an example being rhino thriving here once again gives us hope to continue this fight,” said Vivek Menon, Executive Director, WTI and Regional Director – South Asia, IFAW-WTI.

The support was given out under the Greater Manas Conservation Fund (GMCF) instituted with the goal to ensure holistic conservation of the landscape. The beneficiaries included the Haltugaon Forest Division that was gifted equipment (including TV, DVD player and Generator) for use in awareness generation. This followed the last support provided to the Division in December 2011, in the form of equipment to facilitate better communication between forest camps, which has successfully helped in improving wildlife crime prevention in the Division. Green livelihood support was provided to locals from Kumursali Pwther, Polodabi and Lonthibari villages in Chirang district.

An ex-gratia amount was also paid to the family of late Benga Dwimari who lost his life in conflict with elephants in January 2012.

James Kinney, Programme Officer – Elephants, IFAW who was a part of the IFAW delegation present at the event, said, “I have been seeing Manas for the past three days and am amazed at its flora and fauna. We have been working here in Manas for years now and working together in the years to come, we will be able to secure this heritage.”