GUWAHATI: In a bid to sensitise young students on biodiversity conservation and impress upon them the need for coexistence with wild elephants, a series of awareness events were organised in Tinsukia district.
Organised by Aaranyak, a biodiversity conservation organisation, two outreach events were recently held for the students of No.1 Basa Gaon ME School and Ujani Sadiya High School in the district.
Drawing the participation of 116 eager students, the innovative approach of the awareness programmes was evident as audio-visual presentations, titled “Species Interdependence” and “Biodiversity Conservation and Human Wellbeing” sensitised the students about mitigating human-elephant conflict.
Complementing these presentations was the engaging nature game, “Web of Life”, which facilitated hands-on learning and interactive participation among students.
Aaranyak partnered with the British Asian Trust and, with support from the Biodiversity Challenge Fund, UK, has adopted multipronged 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 was conducted in various schools of Udalguri district, Assam, with the aim 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 in Nunaipara TG LP School, Uttar Sekhar ME School, and No.1 Milanjyoti Amjuli ME School, reaching out to around 250 students.
The Aaranyak team delved into the importance of elephants and their role as ecosystem engineers, emphasising the need for proactive protection of the species and its habitat.
Additionally, the resource persons from Aaranyak highlighted the climate change crisis faced in our day-to-day life and how, with small actions, we can collectively combat this crisis.
This series of outreach events is part of Aaranyak’s initiative, supported by SBI Foundation, to promote human-elephant coexistence and protect biodiversity.
