In the olden days every Naga village had a gate like this one. Carved village gate of Khonoma village, showing stylised Mithun horns, a warrior wearing Angami headdress, circles and stripes. The entire gate is painted with different colours and is built inside a stone structure made of red coloured stones. As part of the 'Khonoma Green Village Project' (KGVP) supported by the Union Ministry of Tourism and Culture, eco-tourism is being promoted in Khonoma village. CEE is one of the agencies involved in conducting environmental impact assessment (EIA) to avoid any environmental damage that may happen because of tourism. Guidelines, codes of conduct and environmental indicators are being worked out before the tourist flow starts. Khonoma, an Angami Naga village in Nagaland, situated 21 km west of Kohima is endowed with rich forest cover and rare biodiversity. CEE started working in Khonoma way back in 1994, soon after the launch of CEE North-East in 1993. As the interest of the people grew in CEE's programmes, the modest environmental awareness was scaled up and projects like BAIDIK (Biodiversity Awareness Integration through Documentation of Indigenous Knowledge), NEEPS (National Environment Education Programmes for Schools) and Darwin Initiative (Conserving India's Biodiversity through NGO training and Projects with Local communities) were taken up by CEE in Khonoma. The interventions helped strengthen capacities of the local community. As a result of environmental awareness created Khonoma has reserved about 70 sq km of its village forest as 'Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary' (KNCTS). The formation of KNCTS is a remarkable achievement. The 'Village Council' of Khonoma (the apex governing body of the village) since 1998 has banned hunting not only in KNCTS but in the entire forest area of the village. KNCTS is a unique example of the community initiative for wildlife and environment conservation Recently, the Union Ministry of Tourism and Culture, through the Nagaland State Department of Tourism has provided support to initiate KGVP for the development of eco-tourism using the resources of KNCTS and the cultural heritage of Khonoma. This is first of its kind project in the country. Many other agencies have also extended support to this initiative. A 2-day workshop on various aspects of the Khonoma EIA study was organized by 'Khonoma Tourism Development Board' (KTDB) at Khonoma where CEE and two other agencies were invited to share the EIA study. The rationale, objective, methodology followed and important highlights of the Khonoma EIA study were discussed in the workshop. Some basic indicators to be adopted for the monitoring and impact assessment process were explained. Some of the recommendations of the study are: to have a strong monitoring system and reduce or minimize negative impacts of tourism; to continue the EIA study process from time to time; to encourage the entire village to give inputs into the EIA study data body, especially in terms of traditions and legends; documentation and development of the legends of Khonoma; documentation of history of Khonoma; identification and development of Unique Selling Propositions (USP) of Khonoma (these may be some birds and plant species, agriculture, monsoon, crop harvesting); designing packages for tourism in Khonoma with detailed itinerary; organizing village youth as tourist guides, imparting them necessary training, sending them out for more professional training and exposure; selling local products, i.e., handicraft and handloom; inviting members of the travel media to come, experience and write on Khonoma, to popularize it as a tourist destination etc. Source:- http://www.ceeindia.org/cee/khonoma.html This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of 50, 000+ hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM / SR 1080i High Definition, Alexa, SR, XDCAM and 4K. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Please subscribe to our channel wildfilmsindia on Youtube for a steady stream of videos from across India. Also, visit and enjoy your journey across India at www.clipahoy.com , India's first video-based social networking experience! Reach us at rupindang @ gmail . com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com

• published: 18 Feb 2015
• views: 134