Jalukie: Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC) Old Jalukie village has been selected for India Biodiversity Awards 2014 under the co-management category. The award ceremony is scheduled to be held on May 22 at Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Range Forest Officer, Jalukie Range, Rampaukai Mpom in a press release informed that the India Biodiversity Awards instituted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India and UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) recognizes outstanding models of biodiversity governance and importantly the central role played by communities that are at the heart of any effort to conserve biodiversity. The award recognizes people, communities and agencies from across the country who has led effective models of biodiversity governance including community-run institutions, local self-governance bodies, joint forest management committees and protected area management agencies engaged in preserving designated protected areas.
According to the note, JFMC Old Jalukie village was nominated by Peren Forest Division, seeing the committed effort rendered by the community for preservation of their village forest against all odds and against the backdrop of a fast diminishing biodiversity in the district due to over exploitation of forest resources. “In fact, the Old Jalukie community biodiversity reserve was locally declared by a village council resolution way back in 1986 and later on signed a MoU with Forest Department on 15th June 2012, stands tall as one pioneering community conservation initiatives in the region,” stated the release. “During the last few years of its effort, the community had successfully merged the traditional system with the ethics of conservation, whereby certain governance systems were evolved that blend well with the traditional life of the community and some innovative practices for reduction of pressure on forest and alternative livelihood models were introduced.”
The conservation model, it said, has started a chain of policy change at many levels today; where many villages have come forward and set aside conservation areas in their respective villages as well as the District Planning & Development Board (DPDB) Peren successfully imposing total ban on hunting and fishing with poison in the district. Rampaukai Mpom acknowledged that this year’s award to be given to JFMC Old Jalukie is “indeed a deserving case and it surely is going to have a positive impact on run for biodiversity conservation in the State and the world at large.”
