The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Nagaland State Bio-Diversity Board (NSSB) and Nagaland Community Conserved Areas Forum (NCCAF) is organizing a two-day consultative workshop on 3rd and 4th September 2024 at Hotel Japfü, Kohima, Nagaland. In a press release, NCAAF informed that the consultative workshop is based on the theme “Exploring Other Effective Area Based Conservation Measures Through an Indigenous People and Local communities’ lens in Nagaland” organised for various Community Conserved Areas in Nagaland.
At the onset of the event, Supongnukshi Ao, CCF (Environment, Biodiversity & Research) and Member Secretary NSSB acknowledged the presence of ICMOD, an organization of international repute. He said that the two-day meet will be very fruitful as the meet has participation of people who matters the most in biodiversity conservation and hoped that the meet will be able to pursue goals which will be tangible and implementable.
Samuel Thomas, Sr. Communication Officer, ICIMOD, introducing the consultation, said that that the meet will emphasise on rights and knowledge of indigenous and local people and hoped that some noble conservation targets can be adopted. He said that Nagaland is a special place because of its rich bio-diversity and “in a decade where we can make or break the bio-diversity conservation discourse, Nagaland becomes an important global target.”
Sunita Chaudary, Eco-system Specialist, ICIMOD also presented the objectives of the consultation which included the possibilities to declare CCAs as OECMS in line with recent declarations of other such sites in India, explore community expectations in terms of government support and incentives for stewardship and discuss the plan of action.
A presentations session was held in the third session which was moderated by Dharmendra Prakash, IFS, PCCF & HoFF, Department of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Government of Nagaland. The session was based on the theme “Understanding CCAs and NSBB in Nagaland”. Supongnukshi Ao, CCF (Environment, Biodiversity & Research) and Member Secretary of NSSB gave a presentation on “Protected Areas & Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measures” on behalf of the Forest Department, Nagaland.
Ivan Zhimomi, Team Leader, Tizu Valley Biodiversity Conservation & Livelihood Network, gave a brief presentation on the Network, where he highlighted the objectives, key activities undertaken by the CCA and impact of the CCA on the community. Ruchinilo Kemp, Secretary, Sendenyu Community Biodiversity & Wildlife Conservation Board, also presented on the Board while an overview of the Nagaland State Bio-diversity Board was presented by Savinuo Kikhi, Forest Range Officer, NSBB.
A session of group discussion was held where participants were divided into groups and each group were given the task to give an understanding and definition of OECM and criteria for OECM from their own point of view.
Day 2 of the workshop will focus on group work where topics such as exploring the gaps and opportunities for CCAs in Nagaland, developing a common understanding to frame standard CCA frameworks and policy guidelines in Nagaland and outcomes of CCASs and OECMs will be discussed.
65 individuals from 16 CCAs from across the state and government agencies attended day one of the consultative workshop.
