#co-existence

Living life with nature: lessons from Assam state of India

In the heart of Charaideo, a remarkable story of coexistence is unfolding ,one where village communities have transformed their surroundings into a sanctuary where forests thrive and wildlife flourishes.

Local residents of Chalapathar have for years practiced traditional ecological stewardship, protecting forest patches, maintaining biodiversity, and promoting sustainable use of natural resources without external interventions.

Their approach stands as a testament to how indigenous knowledge and community participation can ensure environmental balance.

A grassland on the banks of the Dikrong River in Assam’s Lakhimpur district has become a sanctuary for endangered migratory birds during the winter season due to the efforts of a local horticulturist.

In the past, the grassland faced serious threats when miscreants and poachers burned dry reeds and hunted birds. Since then, the area has been under the watchful protection of Krishna Rajkhowa, a local horticulturist.

Rajkhowa, who cultivates apple jujube on a five-bigha plantation in Pokadol near the grassland, has been consistently guarding the area against hunters and other disturbances. His vigilance has completely stopped the burning of the grassland during the birds’ winter migration.

“I’ve been guarding this grassland for the past year, and cases of hunting and burning have come down to zero so far,” said Rajkhowa. He also mentioned that the grassland has witnessed an increase in the rabbit population following his protective measures.

It was unclear whether these were eagles or hawks; but given that the latter generally outnumber the former, they were likely hawks. Note the little bird, completely black - possibly Dicrurus macrocercus, the Black Drongo - sitting right next to the duo on the barbed wire fence, utterly unmolested by them despite its diminutive size, peaceful co-existence apparently possible even between predatory and non-predatory avian species.

These hawks were by no means always still and stationary but would frequently circle in lazy loops on the thermal air currents rising up the face of the adjacent mountain baking in the blazing, burning heat of early summer.

Excerpt from this Truthout story, which is an interview with naturalist Sy Montgomery, who is the author of the book, The Soul of the Octopus.

Remember back when we were all tubes?

Sy Montgomery does. That was a simpler time, eons before the octopus and Homo sapiens went their separate evolutionary ways, and certainly long before that highly intelligent cephalopod, which appeared some 300 million years ago, ended up boiled, stewed and fried. “Our lineage goes back a half-billion years ago when everyone was a tube,” says Montgomery, a naturalist and author of many books about animals. “That was when there were no eyes. Yet we have evolved almost identical eyes. I just love that.”

Montgomery’s enthusiasm and devotion to Earth’s creatures — and the similarities we share with them — has inspired her readers to get to know the eight-tentacled and big-brained wonders in The Soul of the Octopus, and taken us to the ends of the Earth and back to our own backyards in such award-winning books as Spell of the Tiger and Birdology.

A real-life Dr. Dolittle, Montgomery says she’s always related best to animals and — sometimes straining the patience of her bipedal family members — has long treated her home as a land-bound ark for orphaned animals. In scientifically precise but poetic prose, she writes that we share greater similarities than differences with the electric eel, the tarantula, the tree kangaroo and the snow leopard. Don’t forget, she says, that we hail from the same genetic pool, or more likely, gurgling swamp. By paying attention to the commonalities we have with our fellow animals — our singular capacity for what Montgomery argues is a broad range of emotions and zeal for life — humans can transcend the “we-shall-rule-the-Earth” anthropocentric focus, she says, and see that we are all in this together.