Guwahati: In a bid to raise awareness among children on environment protection and various threats posed to wildlife, the Assam government is contemplating inclusion of wildlife and forest conservation lessons in lower and upper primary classes.
Speaking at the state level function of the 68th Wildlife Week here on Friday, Assam environment and forest minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that steps were being mulled with consultation with the education department to include lessons on forest and wildlife protection in the textbooks read by students of the lower and upper primary classes of government schools.
“Assam has always been blessed with abundant wildlife, forests and biodiversity. But modern times have posed a challenge to effectively protect our greenery and wildlife. For that, the forest department must inculcate discipline and high work ethic to reforest those areas that we have lost due to human habitation so that man-animal conflicts can be reduced,” Patowary further stated.
Calling for innovation and research based action from the forest department, the minister urged the officials to work towards increasing forest cover in the state.
He also advocated planting banana and other fruit trees within the forest lands so that animals like elephants do not need to come out in search of food.
Such a step, he said, would also reduce the incidence of human-elephant conflicts, which are often triggered when the animals come out of their habitat in search of food.
The minister further informed about the activities being planned for reforestation of lost forest areas by rehabilitating the human residents from there to other areas with adequate compensation.
IANS