GUWAHATI, Dec 9 – A two-day training programme on “GIS in Conservation and Management” was organised for senior officials of the Assam Forest Department at the NIC Training Centre, Guwahati recently.
The training was mainly targeted for DFO-level officers having elephant reserves or protected areas (PAs) under their jurisdiction. The training was organised jointly by the Assam Forest Department, National Informatics Centre (NIC) and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), and was coordinated by Ajit Kumar Nath of NIC and Amit Sharma of WWF.
BS Bonal, CCF (Wildlife), in his welcome speech, said that the Forest Department was going for modernisation and in this aspect was developing a GIS cell at Forest School, Jalukbari.
He stressed the need for the development of a real time field-based database development system on poaching to keep a check on it. He also impressed upon the officers to use the tools to develop the plans and maps of their respective areas, and also collaborate with NIC and WWF for the same.
He also appreciated the efforts made by WWF for already undertaking collaborative works with the Forest Department of Assam.
Deepak Goswami, senior technical director, NIC Guwahati, spoke on the development of WEB technology and the benefits that can be derived thereof for the purpose of information gathering, interactive mapping and free resources.
Prof BS Mipun of North Eastern Hill University (NEHU) was the theme speaker in the inaugural session who spoke on “Recent trends in GIS & Remote Sensing.” He highlighted the use of the technology in different aspects of wildlife management and conservation. He also illustrated the use and the developments in different parts of the globe and how the same can be used in the State for conservation.
The training focused on the needs of the Forest Department like use of GPS in the field, management of databases and preparation of maps using GIS. Software training provided to the participants is expected to give them the opportunity to use it in the actual field condition and develop plans with the help of the technology.
The resource persons gave demonstrations on the use of instruments and software and allowed hands-on learning making the training practical and effective. The participants’ feedback showed that the actual use of the instruments and equipment helped in gaining confidence rather than just the theoretical knowledge.
The training concluded with the distribution of a copy of the software on which the participants were trained along with other resource material.
