Guwahati: An exposure visit was conducted during April 4 to April 7 for the ‘Village Champions’ (VCs) – who are local community members from human-elephant conflict (HEC)-affected villages of eastern Assam areas and West Garo Hills in Meghalaya, in the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong landscape of Assam. This exposure visit was facilitated by a community-based eco-cultural tourism initiative under the ‘Journey for Learning’.
The VCs are trained community members who facilitate Aaranyak and British Asian Trust’s initiative to bolster human-elephant coexistence through a bottom-up approach of community empowerment and monitoring HEC, supported by the Darwin Initiative.
The VCs participation in implementing the project is remarkable, and to recognize their support and cooperation, we organized this exposure trip to further build their capacity to contribute to conservation.
A team of 11 VCs, along with the Aaranyak project team, took part in this educational tour that began with an eco-cultural village walk in the villages of Phumen Engti and Hemai Lekthe of Karbi Anglong, followed by another forest trekking in Ingnam Kengkam.
During this visit the team interacted with the indigenous Karbi community on ecotourism models, agroforestry, sericulture, and handloom & handicraft practices. The team also had an interesting interaction on the experiential Karbi way of cooking in bamboo nodes.
The following day, a morning safari to Kaziranga National Park was conducted for the team to witness the rich biodiversity and management practices to secure the ecosystem. Thereafter, another important session of interaction with local entrepreneurs through ‘Pirbi – a community-led business – helps in understanding how the local knowledge and products contribute to sustainable livelihood sources for the local communities. Moreover, the team paid a visit to the community nursery as well as the Orchid and Biodiversity Park, stated a press release.
Also Read: Assam: Jetuka Jeng Bihu Group gears up to welcome Rongali Bihu in Numaligarh
Also Watch: