Aaranyak

Aaranyak Launching a New Project on Leoprad entitled " Assam Leopard Conservation and Information Facility (ALCIF)"

The main purpose of the project is to assess the current state of the leopard conservation in Assam. In this project besides monitoring the state of Leopard-human conflict, efforts will be made to find out the current distribution range of leopard in Assam both within and outside the protected area network. GIS mapping will be done to display the current distribution range of the leopard. Efforts will also be made to assess the shrinkage in leopard habitat and occupation since 1990s. This project would encourage local communities to develop and refine their traditional means of mitigating human leopard conflict by using non-lethal techniques Based on the information to be generated out of this project, Assam Leopard Conservation and Information Facility (ALCIF) will be prepared with GIS and Remote sensing tools and updated every year to make the information required for effective management of leopard and its habitat in Assam.

The objectives of the proposed project are –

1. To generate current information on the Leopard in Assam to assess its current distribution and population density.

2. To study the Leopard-Human conflict as a tool for understanding leopard habitat utilization in outside the protected area network involving local community.

3. To garner local communities support towards leopard conservation through orientation and capacity building initiatives and distribution of educational materials.

4. To prepare GIS based map of current and past distribution of leopard in Assam

The proposed project is expected to contribute significantly towards conservation of leopard in Assam. It will facilitate, by ensuring community participation in some of the project activities, cordial and meaningful interactions among local communities, forest department and civil society. Such an effort will be most conducive to minimizing conflicts between forest administrators and fringe villagers which in turn will surely augment the cause of leopard conservation in the Assam.

This project will help to increase the level of awareness among local stakeholders besides acting as interface between villagers and other government agencies. This project will further help to monitor the effectiveness of traditional conflict mitigation techniques. And finally the main project deliverable will be the Assam Leopard Conservation Information Facility (ACLIF) to be prepared pout of this project and will be maintained for future conservation and management initiatives on leopard in Assam.