A neglected and fragmented biodiversity-rich forest patch, Behali Reserve Forest in Assam, needs urgent protection. Experts say it must be upgraded to a protected area for conserving the flora and fauna.
Lying on the border of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, the forest is part of a disputed territory and has witnessed rampant encroachment over the years.
Wildlife poaching for local meat consumption and logging for timber are further endangering the forest’s biodiversity.
One of the key announcements by the newly-formed cabinet, led by Himanta Biswa Sarma, in Assam, was of two new national parks in the state – Raimona in Kokrajhar and Dehing Patkai in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh. This takes Assam’s national park count to seven, making it the Indian state with the second-highest number of national parks, just behind Madhya Pradesh which has nine. While this development brought a reason to cheer for environmentalists and wildlife lovers of Assam, there are other biodiversity-rich but fragmented forests in the state that are still waiting for attention. One such example is the Behali Reserve Forest (BRF), one of the last remaining forests in the Biswanath district of Assam, in the foothills of the eastern Himalayas.
