Biswajit Chakdar
- Project name: Strengthening conservation measures of Bengal Florican in North-east India through enhanced ecological knowledge and community awareness
- Project site: Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, India
- EDGE species: Bengal Florican Houbaropsis bengalensis
- Active: 2019 - 2022
Biography
Biswajit has an MSc in Ecology and Environmental Science from Assam University, and is currently working on his PhD from the same institution. His research work is focused on the status of Bengal Floricans in Terai Arc Landscape. He has been working in the grassland of the Brahmaputra Floodplains for last six years. He had also worked in release and monitoring of reintroduced pygmy hogs under the Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme in Assam, India.
He hopes that the Conservation Tools training course will equip him with the skills he needs to gain the confidence of local communities in his conservation work, which he believes to be essential to save the Florican, as many of the threats that it faces are anthropologically caused.
EDGE Project
Biswajit’s project aims to understand the conservation implications of Bengal Florican and to develop a species recovery plan for its conservation. His objectives are to:
- Assess the distribution and population size of Bengal Florican in north-east India
- Understand habitat use by Bengal Florican during the breeding season in north-east India
- Raise Bengal Florican conservation awareness with community participation
- Build capacity of front line forest staff regarding monitoring and conservation of Bengal Florican
