37 Villages Resolve To Protect Ntangki National Park At Athibung Consultation

In a landmark step toward strengthening community-led conservation, representatives from 37 villages under Athibung sub-division, Peren district, on October 17 adopted a set of resolutions to protect and preserve the Ntangki National Park and its surrounding biodiversity. The consultation, organised by local civil society organisations and government officials, brought together village headmen, women representatives, youth groups, and forest department officers to develop a shared framework for conservation governance.

Ntangki National Park, located in Nagaland's Peren district, is one of the least disturbed forests in Northeast India. It supports a rich assemblage of biodiversity, including elephants, tigers, clouded leopards, and numerous endemic plant and bird species. The park is also a critical watershed for communities downstream, providing water for agriculture and domestic use.

The resolutions adopted at Athibung cover a range of conservation commitments, including prohibitions on poaching, restrictions on encroachment into park boundaries, agreements to report wildlife crime, and pledges to participate in forest monitoring. Importantly, the resolutions were developed through a participatory process that incorporated traditional governance structures and customary land management practices, giving them cultural legitimacy alongside legal authority.

Community-based conservation in Northeast India has a strong track record. Village-level conservation initiatives have been credited with protecting several forest areas that formal protected area systems have struggled to secure. The social cohesion and local knowledge embedded in village governance structures provide a form of ecological stewardship that complements official conservation management.

The Athibung consultation represents a model for integrating formal conservation policy with community agency. By making villages active stakeholders in park protection rather than passive subjects of conservation restrictions, the initiative addresses the longstanding tension between protected area management and the rights and livelihoods of forest-adjacent communities.

In the context of climate change, intact forests like Ntangki play an irreplaceable role in carbon storage, watershed regulation, and biodiversity preservation. Securing community commitment to their protection is therefore both a conservation and a climate resilience priority.