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On 5th June, students from 30 schools around the Karbi foothills area converged at Chapanala, Nagaon, to celebrate World Environment Day organized by Green Guard Nature Organization, Protibha Bikash Gosthi, JDG Girls High School and the Forest Department. Nearly a thousand students, teachers and members of various community groups participated in the programme which included face painting, poster art, folk dance, sloganeering, tree plantation and awareness talks. Hemanta Sharma, Dulu Bora and Raju Bora from Green Guard and ACF Motiur Rahman from the Forest Dept. talked about the relevance of World Environment Day, climate change and the need to adopt environmentally aware lifestyles. The programme started with a token tree plantation programme at the JDG Girls High School and concluded with the planting of thousands of saplings, stumps & seeds of native species, including nearly 1000 elephant fodder trees like bhim kol (giant banana), jack fruit, etc. at Bagherghati, close to the species rich Swang RF near Chapanala.
At Morigaon, the World Environment Day celebration was observed at St. Theresa's School by Green Guard Nature Organisation in association with the Regional Organisation for Social Empowerment and the Photography Club of Morigaon. Activities included the screening of a wildlife documentary, slideshow on snakes by Debajit Kalita, an interactive discussion session by Ranjan Barthakur and Dip Jyoti Bora and a token tree plantation in the school premises.
Elsewhere, Green Guard Secretary General Rituraj Phukan delivered a talk on Climate Change impacts & opportunities at the World Environment Day celebrations at the BitChem Knowledge Centre at Baridua, Meghalaya and the seminar organized by the Federation of Industry & Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) at the NEDFI Convention Centre, Dispur, Guwahati.
On the 2nd day of the celebrations on 6th June, a People's March was organized from Jiajuri to Chapanala by Green Guard Nature Organization in collaboration with the Jiajuri Yuvak Sangha to raise the pitch for nature conservation and increase awareness of the consequences of global warming. The marchers carried three logs covered in shrouds to highlight rampant forest destruction in the Karbi foothills. It was followed by a Nature Awareness Camp at the Chapanala Chariali where members ofof the print and electronic media interacted with the participants. Hundreds of men, women and children, some with their faces painted as wild animals raised slogans and carried placards to conserve nature and adopt green lifestyles to save the planet from catastrophic climate change.
The Kids For Tigers Annual Tiger Fest 2015 was held at the Royal Global School, Guwahati on 30th April. Kids For Tigers is the Sanctuary Asia Aircel Save Our Tigers initiative for schools students; in Assam, the programme is implemented by Green Guard Nature Organization in select schools at Guwahati and Tezpur. The programme seeks to educate school children and teachers about the connection between the Tiger, as the iconic representative of India's wildlife, the conservation of its habitat, the role of these forests in carbon sequestration, climate change consequences, mitigation, water, mankind and children being the hope for a better future.
Over a thousand students representing several city schools participated in the activities which included competitive events like garbage installation, junk jam, on-the-spot art, face painting, tattoo, dustbins for school buses, poster making, poetry, nukkad natak, etc., and a photographic representation of the grassroots conservation initiatives of Green Guard Nature Organization. A Teacher's Environmental Leadership Workshop was also organized on the sidelines to educate the teachers about the consequences of climate change in India, with special reference to Assam and the available individual, community and technological mitigation opportunities.
Padmashri Jadav Payeng, Chief Guest at the Closing Ceremony exhorted the students present to live green lives and make intelligent consumer choices to be environment friendly. The 'Forest Man of India' also asked every student to plant trees and nurture them so that Assam has enough trees to sustain its growing population.
A first ever Tiger Fest was organized at the historic city of Tezpur on the occasion of Earth Day today under the aegis of the Kids For Tigers programme, a Sanctuary Asia Aircel Save Our Tigers initiative for school students. Padmashri Jadav Payeng, the Forest Man of India, was the Chief Guest at the programme held at the Tezpur Collegiate H.S. School. Hundreds of students and teachers from most city schools participated in the various activities and interacted with the team of eminent naturalists including environment journalist Jitu Kalita, and Green Guard members including Secy Gen and KFT Assam Coordinator Raj Phukan, Asst. Gen Secy Ranjan Barthakur, Tiger Defender Dulu Bora, Debajit Kalita, Hitjyoti Sharma and KFT Tezpur coordinators Paridhi Brahma and Abinash Handique. Undeterred by incessant rains throughout the morning, the enthusiastic students participated in various activities like on-the-spot art competition, face painting, poster making, mask making, poetry, drama, signature campaign and photo exhibition. Tezpur Tiger Ambassador Kristy Deka shared her experience of participating at the National Camp at Pench Tiger Reserve. The Forest Man of India Jadav Payeng called upon the students to face up to the challenges brought about by climate change and urged them to plant trees and nurture them. He also gave away trophies and free Sanctuary Cub subscriptions to the winners of the competitive events. Green Guard Nature Organization is the local partner implementing the Kids For Tigers programme at Guwahati and Tezpur.
A Slow Loris was rescued from the Rangamati T.E., Nagaon on 14th of April by a team lead by Green Guard Nature Organization rescue specialist Dulu Bora and B.O., Udmari Forest Beat Office, Mr. Pranab Bora. The Slow Loris was snared by villagers in the nearby forests and someone reported to the manager of the tea estate. A security guard of the tea estate was also reportedly bitten by the Slow Loris, which is venomous, and taken for precautionary treatment. The area is close to where an Asiatic Bear cub had been rescued a few weeks back and the people there were sensitized by Dulu; his contact number was also shared and that probably saved the Slow Loris and the manager could inform him before it was killed. It was kept under observation at the Green Guard Nature Organization temporary rescue center, Chapanala and released back to the wild at Champawati, at the edge of the Swang R.F., on the 16th in the presence of forest staff, members of Green Guard Nature Organization and media.
A Nature Awareness Camp was organized at Kothalguri tiniali, Nagaon, where villagers from the Human-Elephant Conflict affected belt along the Karbi foothills were organized into groups to deal with increasing instances of elephant intrusions into human settlements and cropfields. Altogether 10 large flashlights, 18 high -powered torches and hornpipe (pepa) instruments were distributed among the 10 groups of 15 members each organized from the represented villages. The flashlights and torches will help chase out the intruding herds and the hornpipes will aid the quick mobilization of the group once an incident of intrusion is detected. These groups were organized in the intense HEC affected villages of Thekera Entigaon, Mezigaon, Jharugaon, Baanhkucha gaon, Kothalguri, Beygaon in the presence of the respective gaonburhas. A Captain was selected from each group to hand over the HEC mitigation aid materials that were supported by the TINA Grant for Dulu Bora, who also shared his experiences in dealing with elephant intrusion. The villagers resolved to install Early Warning Systems developed by GGNO and participate in elephant fodder plantation drives to improve the degraded Karbi foothills elephant habitat. 
