HT Bureau
GUWAHATI, May 22: The region’s leading biodiversity conservation organisation, Aaranyak, has recently organised a series of awareness events to engage young students in biodiversity conservation and emphasise the need for coexistence with wild elephants through mitigation of human-elephant conflict (HEC) in the state of Assam.
The conservation sector NGO conducted two outreach events on Monday for students of No 1 Basa Gaon ME School and Ujani Sadiya High School in Tinsukia district. These events aimed to highlight the students’ role in biodiversity conservation and its relation to human well-being. The students were educated on the interdependence of various species on the planet and their importance in the ecosystem.
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Altogether, 116 students were reached during these events conducted in two different schools. Audio-visual presentations titled ‘Species Interdependence’ and ‘Biodiversity Conservation and Human Well-being’ were shown to the students, and a nature game called ‘Web of Life’ was conducted for them.
Aaranyak partnered with the British Asian Trust and, with support from the Biodiversity Challenge Fund, UK, has adopted multi pronged approaches to promote human-elephant coexistence. These outreach events were coordinated by Aaranyak’s Rimpee Moran, Ejaj Ahmed, Debojit Gogoi, and Tonmoi Priya Gogoi, with support from the teachers of the schools.
Earlier this month, a series of outreach events were conducted in various schools in the Udalguri district, to raise awareness on how to coexist with wild elephants.
A team from Aaranyak conducted the organisation’s signature outreach campaign ‘Gajah Kotha’ using well-illustrated IEC materials at Nunaipara TG LP School, Uttar Sekhar ME School, and No 1 Milanjyoti Amjuli ME School on May 3, 13, and 14, respectively, reaching around 250 students from these three schools.
The Aaranyak team discussed the importance of elephants, their role as ecosystem engineers, and how society needs to proactively work towards protecting the species and its habitat, which is intricately linked with human well-being.
Additionally, the resource persons from Aaranyak highlighted the climate change crisis faced in our daily lives and how small actions can cumulatively combat this crisis.
Aaranyak’s team, comprising Rabiya Daimari, Mondeep Basumatari, and Abhijit Saikia, conducted the program with assistance from Bikash Tossa and Pradip Barman. This series of outreach events is part of Aaranyak’s initiative, supported by the SBI Foundation, to promote human-elephant coexistence and protect biodiversity.
