24-May-2018: Biodiversity Award for conserving Bugun liocichla.

A community reserve in Arunachal Pradesh has been awarded the India Biodiversity Award for its effort to conserve the critically endangered bird - Bugun liocichla.

Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve Management Committee (SBVCR) of Arunachal Pradesh was awarded the India Biodiversity Award, 2018, on the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity, at Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University in Hyderabad.

India Biodiversity award is conferred annually by the National Biodiversity Authority.

Bugun Liocichla ( Liocichla bugunorum) was discovered in 2006 in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. The bird has been named in honour of the efforts of the Bugun community of Singchung village in West Kameng district in conserving the wildlife and forest of the area.

The known population of this species is between 14 and 20 individual birds and occupies an extremely small (3 to 4 square kilometre) area in the temperate forest around 2,200m which is entirely within the traditional lands of Singchung village. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has classified this species as critically endangered.

The Singchung Bugun village community reserve was formally created on February 6 last year following intensive conservation efforts by the Arunachal forest department. The SBVCR, 17 square kilometre in size, is the core area of a larger conservation area on traditional Bugun lands.

The 10 staff members of the SBVCR patrol the area every day and have already prevented several instances of illegal road building and boulder extraction in the habitat of the Bugun Liocichla.

Bugun youth from Singchung village have been employed as patrolling and conservation staff of the SBVCR. Over the last five years, more than 400 students from 12 local schools have participated in the annual residential wildlife week camps and have spread awareness about the Bugun Liocichla.