By Bijay Sankar Bora
ORANG NATIONAL PARK (ASSAM): The conservation of bio-diversity and forest cover is virtually impossible without the cooperation and participation of the community as the Forest Department can’t always live to the task with its limited resources and manpower.
Ramesh Gogoi, divisional forest officer of the Orang National Park and Tiger Reserve of Assam, said, “Forest officials assigned for the job of conserving and protecting a bio-diversity hot spot come for a few years, but the community in the area remains for good with the bio resources of these parks. A sense of belonging and ownership has to be instilled in the heart of fringe villagers so that they remain the perennial protector of these resources.”
Motivating a small group of students who were participating in a programme titled ‘Friends of Rhino’ organised by Aaranyak in collaboration with authority of Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park on Wednesday, the DFO said that when the community remained very alert about protection of forest cover and resources, the agencies entrusted with the job were kept on their toes.
“One of the most valuable fallouts of successful protection and conservation of wildlife species is preservation of oxygen bank in the atmosphere and water for all of us on the planet,” said globally reputed conservation expert, Bibhab Kumar Talukdar.
Making a detailed presentation about rhino species available on the planet before a group of young students, police officials and forest staff participating in the programme, Talukdar, a global rhino conservation specialist, who is Asia Coordinator of International Rhino Foundation (IRF) and Secretary General of Aaranyak, said that protection of an animal species is possible only through preservation of its habitat and ecology.
“Once we succeed in protecting the habitat of the species under focus of conservation efforts, the trees are saved to keep supplying oxygen for our survival and conserving water for us. So human beings must strive to protect animal species in order to keep the planet livable for us,” Talukdar said adding a human being needs oxygen equivalent to three cylinders full of oxygen every day, which we get free from the nature.
Market value of an oxygen cylinder ranges from Rs 6000-7000 as on date.
Talukdar urged the group of about 30 school children to carry the message of conservation of Indian One Horned rhino in Orang National Park to their friends and families after attending the programme that was exposing them to rhino sighting in the 78-square kilometer Park that has 115 one-horned rhinos, Royal Bengal Tigers and other species.
The students from the neighbourhood of the tiger reserve were taken out on a safari of the Park and were delighted to sight over 12 one-horned rhinos within a couple of hours.
Orang National Park is described as a mini-Kaziranga National Park on the basis of its faunal resources.