Aspideretes nigricans, an endangered species of turtle, found in Assam

Guwahati, April 21: In a rare honour for the eco-friendly community from the Northeast, two persons from the region have been selected for the prestigious British Petroleum Conservation Awards this year.

Firoz Ahmed and Abdul Wakid, both working for bio-diversity conservation society Aaranyak, are the only ones from the country to receive the honour. Aaranyak has been working in the field of turtles and Gangetic dolphins.

Ahmed has been selected for the Future Conservationist award while Wakid has won the Conservation Follow-up award. Wakid had received the Future Conservationist Award for working on ?Conservation of Gangetic dolphins in the Brahmaputra river system? in 2004.

Since 1985, the British Petroleum Conservation Programme (BPCP) has been supporting and encouraging projects that address global conservation priorities at the local level.

The initiative is the result of a unique collaboration between four leading conservation organisations ? the Bird Life International, Fauna and Flora International (FFI), Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Conservation International (CI) and the British Petroleum.

Ahmed has been awarded a $12,500 grant for working on a project titled ?Turtles and tortoises of Northeast India: Saving them from extinction?.

Wakid has got a $25,000 grant to work on ?Ecology and conservation of residential populations of Gangetic dolphin in the Brahmaputra river system?.

The 10-month project on turtles and tortoises of the Northeast, which will start from August, will survey wild turtles and tortoises in protected and non-protected areas and major turtle markets in the region as their status in the wild has not been thoroughly evaluated.

The baseline data on most species are also a decade old.

It will also identify the viable turtle population, prepare distribution maps using global information system (GIS) techniques and assess threats to their existence.

The Northeast has the highest turtle diversity in the country.

Under the project, hunters, traders and collectors will be interviewed to learn more about distribution, habitat, and extent of exploitation of the species.

Major markets and villages around forests and wetlands will be investigated to evaluate the present and past exploitation trend.

This time, Wakid will concentrate on surveying Gangetic dolphins in the Kulsi and Subansiri tributaries of the Brahmaputra.