Dimapur: The Forest and Biodiversity Management in the Himalayas (Nagaland) Project (FBMP) has called for community participation, traditional knowledge, customary institutions and collaborative governance in protecting forests and biodiversity.The FBMP organised a two-day workshop on “Community Conservation: Celebrating Success and Charting the Future” at the Cathedral compound in Kohima from Tuesday to deliberate on the achievements, challenges and prospects of community-based forest and biodiversity conservation in Nagaland.More than 250 govt officials, conservation practitioners, community representatives and other stakeholders attended the workshop on the first day.Nagaland environment, forest and climate change minister CL John attended the inaugural programme held under the theme “Understanding Conservation in Nagaland: Context, Challenges and Governance” as the special guest.In his address, John urged all 64 project villages in the state to actively participate in conservation activities and ensure the judicious utilisation of project funds for tangible development within their respective community conserved areas (CCAs).He also appealed to communities to take the lead in biodiversity conservation, highlighting the need to strengthen human-elephant conflict mitigation measures through effective utilisation of the newly launched helpline.John also called upon villages, particularly the 29 project villages in Tuensang district, to combine traditional knowledge and practices with modern conservation approaches.Chief conservator of forest and project director, FBMP, Sidramappa Chalkapure highlighted the achievements of the Forests and Biodiversity Management in Himalaya (Nagaland) Project, popularly known as the KfW Project, implemented across 64 villages in six districts of Nagaland.He said the project’s contributions towards biodiversity conservation, livelihood improvement, community infrastructure development and strengthening of local institutions included conservation measures across 41,000 hectares of community forests, mitigation of human-elephant conflict and restoration of spring-sheds and stream-scapes.During the programme, FBMP project documents and website and the human-elephant conflict toll-free helpline 1800-2020-878 were launched by the minister.Three villages were presented with the FBMP Nagaland Conservation Award for their contributions in different categories. Langa village of Tuensang district received the award for community infrastructure; Thenhayan village of Wokha district was recognised for sustainable livelihood, while Mmhayan village of Wokha district received the award for community-led conservation.
