GUWAHATI, Jan 16 - A day-long teachers� training workshop on �Freshwater Turtle and Tortoises Conservation Awareness� was held at the Nature Discovery Centre (NDC), Biswanath Ghat on Friday.
The NDC facility is a joint venture between the Assam Tourism Development Cooperation, Assam Forest Department and the Turtle Survival Alliance Foundation-India (TSA-India).
The workshop was coordinated by Bhasker Mani Dixit, Assistant Director, TSA-India, and Dr. Parimal Chandra Ray, Project Coordinator, TSA-India, North East Projects, in association with Jyotish Das, Block Elementary Education officer, Biswanath, and under the guidance of SuhasKadam, Deputy Conservator of Forest, Sonitpur East Division, Biswanath Chariali.
A total of 25 participants attended the training, 18 of which were upper primary school teachers from the Biswanath block of Biswanath district and the remaining were people from the local riparian community.
The workshop was hosted by TSA-India along in close collaboration with the Block Elementary Education Office (BEEO), Biswanath, Assam, Help Earth, Guwahati, and Assam Wildlife Rescue and Research Organization (AWWRO), Lakhimpur.
The main focus of the workshop was to create awareness amongst teachers about the importance of turtle and tortoises found in Assam, as well as to build a long-term network of schoolteachers and students to help conserve the turtle species of Assam.
Apart from talking about turtles, a member of Help Earth also conducted a session where they shared their successful conservation stories, such as their efforts with the temple turtles in Assam.
Members from AWRRO gave a talk on snakes of Assam. �Through the workshop, TSA India hopes to develop a future conservation framework for turtles and tortoises on a district as well as regional level through the active participation of school teachers, students and other stakeholders,� a TSA spokesperson said.
