From Our Correspondent
Guwahati: Finally, there is an attempt to recognize noble, silent and untiring efforts by some individuals and groups towards conservation of the unique bio-resources of the Northeast India.
The Balipara Tract and Frontier Foundation in collaboration with Aaranyak and Sanctuary Asia Magazine has instituted Balipara Foundation Awards.
The Northeast represents the eco transition zone between the Indian, Indo-Malayan and Indo-Chinese bio-geographic regions and hence the geographical ‘gateway’ for ecological units.
It is in this transition zone that the highest diversity of biomes or ecological communities can be found with species diversity.
The Awards will highlight the importance of keeping the sanctity of the nature reserves in the region which becomes critical considering the Northeast being among the 34 biodiversity hot spots on the globe world but now under serious threat.
There would be many categories of awards to honour individuals and groups across diverse occupation such as scientists, village dwellers, lawyers, teachers, students and organizations.
The award categories include Naturenomics Award, Green Guru Award, Green Legal Award, Ecological Restoration Award, Eastern Himalayan Conservation Award, and Food for the Future Award, Nature Conservancy Award, Young Naturalist Award, Annual Balipara Foundation Award and Lifetime Service Award.
All are to be honoured in a common platform – the protection of and continuity of nature.
The awards ceremony will be held at Pragjyotish ITA Centre, Machkhowa in the city from 18.00 hours to 20.00 hours on April 12 next.
Through these awards the Balipara Foundation and Aranyak together with Sanctuary Asia Magazine salute these eco warriors who have been fighting to save our virgin forests, bountiful rivers and pristine lakes through various means and tools thereby delivering hopes and sometimes positive and tangible changes to affirm on us that we can indeed retain our beautiful blue planet as it was made to be.
The Balipara Tract and Frontier Foundation (BTFF) is a nonprofit NGO instituted with the mandate of “Facilitating and driving community level involvement and employment generation through social entrepreneurships in Naturenomics™ initiatives that are economically self sustaining.”
The Naturenomics™ framework relates to capital formation for a region or an organization through the creation of ecologically ‘compliant’ assets in a sustainable manner.
Aaranyak, a register society for bio-diversity conservation in the Northeast, is recognized as Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (SIRO) by the Government of India.