GUWAHATI: Aaranyak, a premier biodiversity conservation organization, conducted a winter camp-cum field training on Nature Studies from March 8 to 10 at the Baligara camp near Nameri National Park.
This is an annual event conducted in order to build capacity of students and nature lovers to create a trained and capable citizen workforce to work for nature conservation and environment protection.
The programme was inaugurated with flag hosting by the Vice President of Aaranyak, Dr. Dilip Chetry. Dr. Partha J Das, organizing secretary and a senior scientist with Aaranyak welcomed the participants and elaborated the purpose of the camp. In addition to this, Dr. Dipankar Lahkar conducted the first session on bird watching and nature observation to prepare the participants for the next day's practical sessions. Dr. Lahkar and his team further talked about the use of camera traps in monitoring animal populations.
Arif Hussain conducted a game for the participants, where they went on treasure hunt using the GPS tracking. This informal session helped the participants gain hands on trainings on the use of GPS, which is a vital tool in conducting field studies.
Dr. Jayant Kumar Sharma held a discussion with the participants on the basic methods of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA). Prof. Chandan Kumar Sharma, Department of Sociology, Tezpur University highlighted the "Importance of conserving and developing forest village: a social, economic & cultural perspective". In addition, Mr. Debasish Borgohain, Range Officer, briefed the participants about the Park, its conservation and management in a lucid way.
Udayan Borthakur took a session on wildlife photography. Invited Speakers of 17 Assam Rifle, Madhosodhan Ganithan (Nursing Assistant, Manoj Manjia (Pharmacist), and JSP Tamta (Nursing Assistant) trained the participants on first aid snakebite management, and how to deal with sudden fractures/ accidents in field. a press release said.