Guwahati, Sept 28: Region’s premier biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org) as part of its sustained efforts for facilitating human elephant coexistence with community support, organised a cooking contest -cum-awareness programme at Lebangkula, Joypore in Dibrugarh district of Assam last week.
The programme meant for local women was organised with the objective to facilitate preservation and promotion of local cuisines among the masses as well as to provide sustainable income opportunities for these women affected by the human elephant conflict.
Seventeen women participated in the event on September 23 by cooking a range of healthy and nutritious local dishes in presence of over 55 community members.
Chayarani Mech of Jeypore Forest Range and Subhas Chandra Rabha of Aaranyak judged the cooking contest.
The event was also attended by Rajib Gogoi, Manuj Gogoi, Anganwadi workers of Tantipather – 2 / Lebangkula – 1, Dilip Gogoi, President of Dehing Patkai Yuva Sangha, Gubin Gogoi, village head of Tanti Pather. The event was coordinated by the Aaranyak team working in eastern Assam as part of the human elephant coexistence initiative of Aaranyak and British Asian Trust, with support from Darwin Initiative.
Besides this unique cooking competition to set up rapport with the community it is working with for promotion of human-elephant coexistence, Aaranyak also provides assistance to village weavers, alternative crops for villagers in human-elephant conflict affected areas, solar streetlights, torch lights to help community coexist with wild elephants.
Installation of community managed and owned solar fences in various hotspots of human elephant conflicts is also undertaken by Aaranyak in certain areas across the Brahmaputra Valley in Assam.