Guwahati, June 9: Assam has roped in celebrated British travel writer Mark Shand as the international brand ambassador for the centenary celebrations of the Kaziranga National Park next year. Assam forest minister Pradyut Bordoloi said Shand have been selected with the objective of attracting as much global attention as possible for the celebrations which would be promoted as the “greatest conservation success story of the century”.
The park was founded in 1905 with 10 one-horned rhinos.
Today, it is home to over 1,600 rhinos, has the highest concentration of Asiatic buffaloes and also has hundreds of bird species.
The exact figure of rhinos will be known in the next census that will be carried out in the year 2005.
Not only is Shand a big name on the international environmental scene with several documentaries aired on the National Geographic and books to his credit, but is also familiar with Assam having authored a book on elephant queen Parbati Baruah.
“He has accepted our request. Through him we will try to bring in more experts to give a boost to the ongoing conservation efforts and popularise both Kaziranga and Manas, which we will be promoting as world heritage sites than as national parks. The celebrations will be held in February and coincide with the annual elephant festival,” Bordoloi added.
Disclosing that the Assam State Zoo was being given a facelift with help from Singapore, he said a revival plan for Manas had also been chalked out.
“Things are much better today. We have managed to neutralise the poachers and in association with the Bodoland Territorial Council are planning to put Manas on the world map in the true sense of the term.”
Bordoloi, accused by environmentalists of not doing enough to save the Assam forest cover, said the green umbrella had increased by over five per cent since 1999, when it was 30.2 per cent.
“This is not my government or my department’s report, but that of the Dehradun Forest Survey of India’s report to be published in September. I am not saying that there has been no destruction, but things are improving and will improve. You will also be glad to know that in 2004 alone we have covered 14,000 hectares under various forest regeneration programmes,” he said.
Ruing the lack of forest personnel for effective protection of forest wealth, Bordoloi further said that despite limitations the department has raised Rs 40 crore from forest products compared to Rs 5 crore raised under the earlier regime in the year 1999.