Dr Niketu Iralu, social worker, members from KNCTS, Khonoma Village Council and others with the village elders Malai Sohmat Himaship, West Khasi Hills, Meghalaya on November 6 and 7 at Khonoma Village.
Kohima, November 8 (MExN): The Climate Change Adaptation North Eastern Region Project organized a two-day exposure visit on November 6 and 7 to Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary for a group of fourteen village elders from five villages of Malai Sohmat Himaship, West Khasi Hills, Meghalaya.
The Climate Change Adaptation North Eastern Region Project is currently being implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in the States of Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Sikkim and under the aegis of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.
“This initiative is part of the effort of the five villages of Malai Sohmat Himashipto to initiate a conservation movement aimed at conserving the natural habitat of the Hillock Gibbon found within their village boundaries,” stated a press note received here.
The group was welcomed in the presence of Niketu Iralu, social worker, Khriekhoto Mor, Chairman, Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary Trust (KNCTS); Neisamezo Pier, Chairman, Khonoma Village Council; Tsilie Sakhrie, Advisor, Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary; and members of the Khonoma Village Council, Supong Aier, Chief Conservator of Forest, Government of Nagaland and Kenneth M Pala, Senior Advisor and Regional Coordinator, GIZ.
The press note stated that the objective of the visit was “to sensitize the village elders of Malai Sohmat on the various initiatives undertaken by the KNCTS in its effort to declare a huge tract of forest as a community managed wildlife sanctuary.” This is envisaged to encourage village institutions in Malai Sohmat to put into place similar strategies and guidelines to promote conservation of natural habitat of the Hillock Gibbon.
Tsilie Sakhrie spoke on the various challenges faced by KNCTS in its initial efforts to bring together the various section of the community to agree on the need to restrict hunting and collection of resources from the forest. Khriekhoto informed the gathering that in 1998, the Khonoma Village Council declared its intention to declare about 2000 ha (20 sq km) as the Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary.
This came about after three years of concerted effort on the part of the many village elders, through extensive discussions in the village.
He also mentioned that some years ago the Government of India recognised the potential of the village and granted it a substantial Green Village fund through the Tourism Department of the state government. The money is being used to provide basic civic amenities and hygiene measures, reinforce community infrastructure, and prepare the village to receive and show visitors it’s past and present, it was stated.
Suggestion to encourage nature education for schools, documentation of the flora and fauna was brought forth by Supong.
Pala spoke on the various benefits of conservation, both at the community, household and individual level through promotion of ecotourism.
He stressed upon the need to take on board all section of the community in conservation initiatives and laid emphasis on the urgency to create a better understanding at the community level on the guiding principles of sustainable tourism which are often ignored in the mad rush for quick benefits.
Besides the series of interaction and in-depth discussions, the group were taken for a Village Walk around Khonoma Village, a trek to the alder farms and visit to Dzüleke.
‘First deal with selfishness and bury resentments’
Niketu Iralu, social worker spoke on the various initiatives undertaken years back prior to the formal declaring of Khonoma community managed sanctuary which laid focus on the need to foster peace and understanding amongst the various factions within Khonoma, a much needed prerequisite required for binding the community together.
“First deal with the selfishness and bury resentments against one another that a village too easily allows to take over, than creative cooperation becomes possible,” the elder said.
Niketu informed the gathering that many too often we talk of the crisis of the environment, of destruction of forests, wild life, water and other critical resources for mankind’s survival. “But if we will care enough to stop and examine what is really going on, the uncomfortable truth is that we human beings are causing the crisis!” he stated.
This was the case of Khonoma wherein the Khonoma Public Commission created by at the behest of the village elders several years back to stop the rapid destruction of the priceless heritage of the virgin forest expanse of the Japfü-Dzükou ecosystem discovered that we needed to first cooperate to bring healing and forgiveness of one another for the killings that had taken place during the height of the Naga struggle and destroyed the inter-clan relationships that had sustained the village for generations.
After almost a decade of thoroughly transparent examination of what had happened and the Commission with the help of the Churches enabled the families on both sides of the killings to complete together a process of “forgiving and being forgiven”. After that the establishment of the Wild Life conservation project, the resolution to ban felling timber for sale to the saw mills in Dimapur, etc, became possible. A proposal to expose the present community of Khonoma to the concept of sacred groves of Meghalaya and learning the art of constructing living root bridges was strongly mooted by Niketu.
