The Forest Department of the state of Nagaland organised an event on Friday, November 3. The event was organised at the conference hall of the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Head of Forest Forces. It marked the completion of 10 years of Amur Falcon conservation in the state.
“Creation of mass awareness and the support of local Naga people brought about a change in their attitude towards hunting practices. The hunting of Amur Falcons is the story of the past. The engagement of local communities in falcon conservation has yielded positive results in conserving Amur Falcons,” said a message from Chandra Prakash Goyal. He is the Director General of Forests and Special Secretary for the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India.
Commissioner and Secretary for the Department of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Y Kikheto Sema also attended the event. He spoke regarding the steps taken by the state towards protecting the Amur Falcons during their visit to the state. He mentioned that with the efforts of multiple organisations, these birds have been protected since 2013. And the roosting locations of these birds were declared “zero hunting” areas. He also commended the valuable actions taken by the media, village councils, church, and Wildlife Trust of India alongside the forest department.
Y Kikheto Sema also mentioned about how the conservation success story got the limelight. He added that an international team of ornithologists recorded around one million Amur Falcons roosting in 2013. After that the Doyang-Pangti region in Nagaland was declared the “Falcon Capital of the World” on 6 November 2013.
He also recalled the efforts of Y Nuklu Phom, who was later awarded the Whitley Award for encouraging community-owned forests.
Amur Falcon Roosting Area Union (AFRAU) Pangti village, president P. Thungchumo Shidio was also present. He shared how the Pangti village took concrete measures towards the conservation of Amur Falcon. He also shed light on the indiscriminate killing of these migratory birds before October 2012. And how several NGOs, government agencies and the church came together afterwards for conservation.
In 2014 the Amur Falcon Roosting Area Union (AFRAU) Pangti Village was formed. It is an NGO comprising roosting area landowners, which continues to work today.
