The Poachers Who Switched Sides and Saved Manas National Park

How does an ‘endangered’ world heritage site transform into a hub of conservation? 

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A documentary film by GreenHub Fellow Rangjalu Basumatary and his friend Nongmaithem Rocky explores Assam’s Manas National Park’s journey from the former to the latter. 

The GreenHub Fellowship is a residential one-year programme offering youth across Northeast India, Central India and Western Himalayas an opportunity to document their environment, wildlife, conservation, and climate sustainability. 

This documentary, ‘Revival of Manas’, chronicles the evolution of the Manas National Park from the 1990s to the present day, where the Manas Wildlife Sanctuary is home to 60 species of mammals, 42 species of reptiles, seven species of amphibians and 500 species of birds, of which 26 are globally threatened. 

Behind this are the efforts of the Manas Maozigendri Eco-tourism Society (MMES), a community-based conservation society established in December 2003. 

The youth of Manas recall this as a crucial time in the park’s history. Around the 1990s, Manas was threatened by the All Bodo Students Union (ABSU), which had launched the Bodo Movement in 1987, demanding a separate state of Bodoland. The Bodos are one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in Assam. 

During this time, the unrest in the state spilt into the Manas National Park area, where communities began hunting and poaching. The wildlife in the park started deteriorating. 

In 1992, the national park was put on the UNESCO danger list, designating sites threatened by conditions like armed conflict, natural disasters, pollution, and unsustainable tourism. The blame fell on the Bodo community. 

But the Manas Maozigendri Ecotourism Society was an attempt to turn the poachers into conservators. The community started to dialogue with the leaders, and conduct awareness programmes in the villages and formed the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), which saw to it that illegal ammunition was surrendered to the government. 

Bhudiswar Boro, who used to be a poacher and is now a conservationist, shares about his hunting exploits, “We hunted wild deer, rhinos, wild boar, elephants and more. By 2003, the flora and fauna of the place had almost finished.”

As revealed by officials in the documentary, between 2003 and 2008, more than 60 guns were collected by the MMES. The overarching intent was to make Manas poaching and smuggling-free. 

Over 60 poachers united to help build Manas National Park; efforts were made to educate children about conservation, while the women were taught weaving and animal husbandry as an alternate means of livelihood. 

Today, there’s a beautiful story of conservation that’s evolving around the perimeters of this UNESCO World Heritage Site — one hinged on volunteering efforts, patrolling, homestays and helping the locals mitigate human-animal conflicts. 

This story is part of a content series by The Better India and GreenHub.

All pictures courtesy GreenHub

Sources 

'Manas Wildlife Sanctuary', Published in World Heritage Convention. 

'Role Of Manas Maozigendri Eco-Tourism Society (MMES) In Sustainable Development And Conservation: A Study', Published in International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts on 7 July 2022.

'Successful preservation of India's Manas Wildlife Sanctuary enables withdrawal from the List of World Heritage in Danger', Published in World Heritage Convention on 21 June 2011.