Arunachal Pradesh monastery sets aside forest area as Community Conserved Area

Itanagar: A Buddhist Cultural Society and a confederation of over 20 villages in Arunachal Pradesh have set aside a sizeable forest area, belonging to a manastery, as a Community Conserved Area (CCA).
Mon-Lhagyala Buddhist Cultural Society (MLBCS) and the Kalaktang Tsopa, a confederation of more than 20 Monpa villages in West Kameng district, set aside 85 sq km of a forest, belonging to the Lhagyala monastery, for biodiversity conservation.
This is probably the first instance in the region where a monastery has taken the initiative to declare its forest as a CCA for long-term management and sustainable livelihood purposes.
The western boundary of the forest area earmarked as Mon-Lhagyala Community Conserved Area (MLCCA) adjoins Bhutan’s Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, that has some of the vast, pristine mixed conifer forest tracts and many rhododendron species.
Millo Tasser, the DFO of Shergaon forest division formally inaugurated the CCA at a programme at Domkho village on Wednesday, a WWF-India press release quoting the DFO said on Friday.
“This is a good beginning and noble effort by the people of Domkho and other villages,” the DFO said.
The CCA is located at an altitude ranging between 2500m and 4000m covering temperate and the sub-alpine biomes.
It is an important habitat of the red panda, alpine musk deer, high-altitude pheasants, Asiatic black-bear, and is the catchment of Domkho Ri (river), crucial water sources for the Domkho-Morshing valley and the downstream.
WWF-India has been supporting the local communities and the MLBCS to secure forests for species conservation and long-term management to address livelihood needs of the people.
The CCA model is an important tool that can be effective in a state like Arunachal Pradesh where more than 60 per cent forest (roughly 30,000 sq km) belongs to local community and is governed by their traditional customary laws.
The MLBCS, which manages the CCA, currently bans any form of hunting and illegal or commercial extraction of forest resources from the CCA.
Violation of this order would be a punishable offence under the provision of customary laws of the Tsokpa and the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the release said. (PTI)