# Aaranyak

Aaranyak is a leading wildlife NGO based in Guwahati. It was founded by Bibhab Kumar Talukdar. It is a Scientific, Industrial Research and frontline environmental organization of India. It works all over the eastern Himalayan region on nature conservation, natural resources management, climate change, disaster management and livelihood enhancement of marginalized communities through research, education and advocacy.
The group says its mission is to foster conservation of biodiversity in Northeast India through research, environmental education, capacity building and advocacy for legal and policy reform to usher a new era of ecological security. Recently, UN framework convention on climate change announced Aaranyak in partnership with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) as winner of its UN Lighthouse Activity Award 2014 for the successful implementation of the community-based flood early warning system in the Lakhimpur and Dhemaji Districts of Assam.

## History

In September 2022, Aaranyak, a leading wildlife NGO in Northeast India, completed 33 years of its existence. Aaranyak which made a beginning as nature's club in a small way has transformed into a premiere scientific research and conservation organization of the country. The work of organisation spans across various fields like wildlife & biodiversity conservation, on mitigation of disaster and climate risk, water governance, conservation education, legal and advocacy. The organisation has contributed a lot on livelihood interventions for the marginalized communities, natural resources management, through research, education and advocacy in the last 30 years. Its staff includes conservationists, ecologists and professionals from diverse disciplines totaling approximately 120 members who had been working together to foster the conservation of biodiversity. Aaranyak has to its credit many research articles, reports, books, brochures and other educational materials written and published by a network of hundreds of members and volunteers. Additionally the Organisation has also introduced some of the new initiatives which are worth mentioning like series of webinars and live discussion programmes titled, “Eco Talk”, “Science, Environment & Mankind: Fundamentals” and “Conservation Matters” etc. In year February 2020, a major event was organized by Aaranyak in collaboration with several other organizations and institutions titled “7th Asian Primate Symposium & First International Conference on Human-Primate Interface, 2020”.
The organisation had responded efficiently to the crisis unleashed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 through proactive voluntarism and raised awareness and assisted the efforts of the Central and the State Government to prevent and deal with the pandemic and also proactively regulated its organisational activities in accordance with the instructions and guidelines of GOI and GOA. It had provided aid and encouraged the local communities to develop cloth facemasks and distributed the same to the staff and related members and donated a sum of Rs 1,00,000 to Assam Government to help strengthen the government initiatives to check spread of pandemic.
The event to mark the 31st formation day commenced with Aaranyak flag hoisting, followed by a keynote speech by the President and the Secretary General of Aaranyak and members of the foundation observed the day with a brief programme, which was streamed live on Aaranyak's official Facebook page, due to the present COVID-19 pandemic.

## Activities in Kaziranga

A joint study carried out by Aaranyak and the Assam Forest Department, has shown that Kaziranga National Park has the highest density of wild tigers in the world. The report is the result of a study carried out during January–March 2009. Recently, the premier biodiversity conservation organisation had installed 18 km of solar-powered fence to facilitate human-elephant coexistence at Nagrijuli in Baksa district. The initiative will ensure food security and commendable reduction in incidents relating to humans and elephants and will also benefit approx 12 villages with 35 hamlets and 15000 villagers. The solar powered fence was installed after conducting extensive support from local communities and forest department and funded by Elephant Family Foundation India and covers 18 kilometers with two strands installed in two phases covering several villages around the Nagrijuli-Udalguri National Highway.

## List of notable programs and campaigns

| Division | About the Division |
| Environment Education and Capacity Building Division | This is one of the society's long-term division continuing since its inception. Well trained educators, environmentalist of the society have been involved in conservation education for different target groups like students, youth, teachers, journalists, policy makers, community and others regarding preservation and restoration of ecological balance. In order to create awareness among the populace it has organized. |
| Conservation projects (NETSCOPE) | North East Threatened Species Conservation Programme (NETSCOPE): The North East Threatened Species Conservation Programme (NETSCOPE) of Aaranyak introduces a new strategic opportunity for conservation of the threatened species unique to the North East India with diverse cultural affinity. |
| Community Based Conservation Programme | Aaranyak, with a view to secure community support in the conservation of biodiversity have evolved pilot initiatives to support diversified livelihood options to strengthen the local economy. Diversified livelihood generation assistance to the community has played some encouraging role to reduce the dependency of local community upon biodiversity resources and indirectly contributing towards their conservation. The strength of Aaranyak lies in integrating research and community-based activities into a coherent programme that generates knowledge and fosters innovation at local and regional level to achieve the true meaning of sustainable development in terms of biodiversity conservation. |
| Legal and Advocacy Division (LAD) | The success of any anti-poaching efforts will ultimately depend on the rate of conviction. Due to lack of orientation and poor interpretation skills of the forest staffs, the existing wildlife, forest and environment laws are either not enforced or used properly to increase the rate of conviction to the poachers and smugglers involved in the illegal trade on wildlife contraband. Aaranyak has for the first time in North East India, started the legal orientation programme for the forest officials working in the Wildlife Sanctuaries and National Parks in Assam in 1996. Since then, covering almost all the protected areas of Assam, Aaranyak has organised more than 12 legal orientation programmes. Advocate Gautom Uzir of Gauhati High Court is the Chief Legal Advisor of Aaranyak, he is in-charge of conducting the legal orientation camps for the benefit of forest staffs in Assam. Ajoy Kumar Das who joined Aaranyak in 2006 is the Associate Lawyer of the Legal programme |
| Water Climate and Hazard (WATCH) Division | The Northeast India, consisting of the eight states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, presents a distinctive geophysical unit set in the pristine Eastern Himalayan Region with a unique physiographic framework, a vigorous monsoon dominated climatic regime and a dynamic hydro-geomorphic regime. Endowed with a sub (extra) tropical type of monsoonal climate, the region shows remarkable variability of weather and climate on a regional scale and forms a distinct climatic zone within the Indian landmass. Consisting mainly of the basins of three of the large river systems of the world viz. the Brahmaputra, the Barak (Meghna) and the Irrawaddy, the NER possesses the richest treasure-trove of water resources in India. It possesses about 30% of the total water resources potential and about 41% of the total hydropower potential of India. The per capita and per hectare availability of water in this region is the highest in the country. The NE India is one of the wettest as well as most acutely flood prone zones of the world. |
| Geo-spatial Technology Application Division | Considering all the importance of Remote Sensing and GIS in the field of biodiversity conservation and planning, the Geo-spatial Technology Application Programme (GTAP) was introduced at Aaranyak in the year, 2004. Since then the programme has been continuously managing and integrating spatial and non-spatial data that are related with mainly biodiversity characteristics of North East India. Till now the unit has prepared different thematic maps of Assam in particular and other North Eastern States as a whole. Under this initiative effort is on towards creating a complete GIS database of the protected areas of Assam and North East India. In this regard, the unit has already developed GIS database for several reserved forests, wildlife sanctuaries and National Parks of Assam. |
| Wildlife Genetics Division | Aaranyak has felt the need of expanding its conservation efforts to a new horizon by using high-throughput DNA technologies in the field of wildlife research in North East India. There has always been a paucity of exploration and research on wildlife in North East India, which encompasses an important part of the Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hotspot, one of the 25 global biodiversity hotspots recognized by the international community. Molecular genetic tools provide ample opportunities for studying different aspects of population biology for species which are hard to observe directly through visual observation in the impregnable forests of North East India. |
| Wildlife Health and Research Programme (WHRP) | The Wildlife Health and Research Initiative is a newly designed dedicated initiative of Aaranyak equipped with veterinary expertise to address the various health aspects of the indigenous wild fauna of North east India through veterinary intervention and research approaches. The programme is an interdisciplinary effort between health professionals, wildlife managers, ecologists and conservation professionals. It is an important component of educational and applied wildlife research and successfully integrates the disciplines of veterinary medicine and wildlife management. |
| Environment Education Orientation Programme | To create a pool of Green Teachers in Assam State to give a thrust to conservation efforts, Aaranyak organised many environment education orientation programme for school teachers from fringe areas of Manas Tiger Reserve |
Aaranyak sponsors vehicles to Manas National Park.

## Awards, recognitions and collaborations

Aaranyak had been awarded with many regional, national and international awards and accolades from many countries for its outstanding work and contribution to the society from many years.
Indira Gandhi Paryavaran Award from MoEFCC, Govt. of India in year 2012
“Best Scientific Institution in Assam” under the category of “State Awards for Scientific Excellence, 2017” by the Science & Technology Department, Government of Assam in year 2017.
organizational member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Recognised as a Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (SIRO) by Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science and Technology

## Books from Aaranyak

| Name of book | Language |
| Amphibians and Reptiles of Northeast India- A Photographic Guide | Assamese, English |
| Indian Rhinos in Protected Areas of Assam | English |
| Role of Policy and Institutions in Local Adaptation to Climate Change | English |