Tezpur, 5 August (MTNews): The Tokhü Emong Bird Count (TEBC) 2023 was launched at the international community on Food, Community, and Culture: Agroecological Practices in Northeast India that was organized at Tezpur University by North Eastern Social Research Centre (Guwahati), Department of Sociology and Community Action Resource Centre (NCARe), Tezpur University, University of Melbourne, and Stockholm University on 4-5 August 2023.
Started in 2022, the Tokhü Emong Bird Count (TEBC) is the first bird documentation event in Nagaland. The event is organized by the Wokha Forest Division and the Divisional Management Unit, Nagaland Forest Management Project, Bird Count India, and powered by eBird India. The aim of the event is to create awareness and celebrate the rich bird diversity in Nagaland and beyond.
Celebrated on 7th November, Tokhü Emong is the post-harvest festival of the Lotha Nagas and is considered as a time for celebration, reconciliation, and sharing.
In 2023, research members of the project, Practicing Food Sovereignty: Indigenous Peoples and Agroecological Relationship in the Eastern Himalayas are collaborating with the TEBC event. The aim is to highlight the significance of birds in this biodiversity-rich area falling under the Eastern Himalayan and Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspots.
Birds inhabit an ambivalent place among communities in the region as pests and agents of regeneration. The campaign underscores the role of birds and their importance in envisioning a sustainable future for both conservationists and farming communities.
As a research collaborator in the TEBC campaign, Prof Dolly Kikon from the University of Melbourne said that birding has become an inclusive act, where people can make sense of the changes in nature through the sounds of birds. Urbanization and increased use of pesticides have led to a decline in the population of birds.
She emphasized the need for community-centered initiatives like birding that allow researchers to understand the complexity of the relationship between human beings and the natural world around us.
Amplifying the importance of birds and the initiatives being undertaken by the government of Nagaland, Mr Lansothung Lotha, Range Forest Officer (Wokha Forest Division) said that most people are not very aware of what birds are doing to help propagate our forests and that this aspect needs to change in the future.
He explained that the Tokhü Emong Bird Count is like the Bihu Bird Count that is also organized in Assam. Tokhü Emong also coincides with the migration of the Amur Falcons to the region. “Birds are excellent indicators to change in habitats, since birds and forests are dependent on each other,” Mr Lotha underlined to the audience. Among other important ecological roles, they are also responsible for seed dispersal, so we need to pay attention to what their presence or disappearance indicates. His detailed presentation showed how birds are responsible for spreading seeds that grow forests, as well as feed people.
PhD scholar, Joel Rodrigues, who is the coordinator of the TEBC 2023, narrated the various ways in which the bird count campaign wishes to encourage schools and universities and young people to engage with the message of birding. He highlighted the role of social media, as well as greater encouragement for people to do inter-generational walks in forests, villages, and even urban areas.
The event concluded with the release of the official poster of the campaign.