Guwahati, Oct 14: Over 9-kilometre long solar-powered fence meant for protecting cropland and mitigating human-elephant conflict (HEC) was ceremonially handed over to community-oriented solar fence management committee in HEC–affected Ujani Majuli area in Majuli River Island district of Assam at the initiative of regiona’s premier biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak.
The event was organised jointly by Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org) with the Majuli Forest Division and in collaboration with Science for Social Welfare, Poribesh Bondhu, DONY Green Foundation and WWF-India at Gazera Rangamancha in Ujani Majuli durimng the celebration of Wildlife Week in Assam.
This outreach programme was a part of efforts of Aaranyak and British Asian Trust to facilitate coexistence, with support from Darwin Initiative.
Addressing the event, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Joyram Baruah urged the younger generation to play an active role in wildlife conservation.
Aaranyak official Rimpee Moran interacted with the local villagers with the aid of an audio-visual presentation on human-wildlife coexistence, while another official Rubul Tanti provided guidance on how to use the “Haati App” to document human-elephant conflict (HEC) incidents and claim ex-gratia as compensation against damages caused to lives and property because these incidents.
This was folllowed by a fun game ‘water glass on head challenge’ with the women folk of the community where around 24 women took part.
The community-managed seasonal solar fence of around 9.3 km to protect croplands in Ujani Majuli was handed over to the Solar Fence Management Committee in presence of the forest officials, member from Zilla Parishad Committee and Rapid Response Unit (RRU) team members by signing an MoU.
The event concluded with sharing the handbook on solar fence, tree plantation and distribution to the community members. Sixty-seven people participated in the event, including eight forest officials.
Invited guest Renumala Dutta, a renowned social worker, shared her thoughts on importance of restoration of habitat while Jayanta Madhab Kalita from Science for Social Welfare expressed the importance of biodiversity conservation for human well-being during the outreach programme.