A Nature Awareness Camp was organized by the B.K.B.College, Puranigudam, at the watchtower on the banks of the Samaguri Beel, Nagaon on the 30th of April 2014. Sanctuary Asia Tiger Defender Dulu Bora of Green Guard Nature Organization was the main resource person to familiarise the 120 students on the importance of local, community-based initiatives for conservation of different natural habitats like grasslands and wetlands outside of the protected areas. Taking the Samaguri Beel as an example, Dulu informed the students that the wetland ecosystem had been destroyed due to clearing of the aqua fauna and construction activities at the periphery in the name of eco-tourism leading to the reduction in avian species, documented at the site by GGNO, from around 180 in the 1990s to around 50 in recent years. In contrast, the Harbhanga Beel near Laokhowa WLS has been maintained very well by the local communities, he added. Dulu said that the recent trend to develop picnic spots by construction of permanent structures and use of loudspeakers, loud music and littering by the ignorant crowd has degraded the most naturally beautiful places and driven the resident and migratory birds and animals away. He also dwelt on the need to make informed consumer choices, plant trees, stop deforestation and stop wastage of resources if we want to arrest the rising temperatures and other negative affects of climate change.. He also pointed to the threat of mass influx from Bangladesh into Assam, due to sea water level rise from polar melting, which is now a real threat due to global warming. He exhorted the students to live and promote environment friendly lives so that the political leadership is forced to take note and implement decisive action before it becomes to late for mankind.
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