How This Fascinating Village Made a Turnaround To Become the First Green Village in Asia

Surrounded by lush green mountains and picturesque landscape, Khonoma, a sleepy village in Nagaland is recognized as ‘Asia’s first green village’. The village was once popular for wildlife hunting. Read on to know how this village became Asia’s first green village. Khonoma was widely known for the occupation of hunting which was once considered sacred. For this centuries-old village, hunting had become a way of life.  Once, during a hunting competition held in the 1990s, around 300 Blyth’s tragopan were killed in just one week. Blyth’s tragopan are birds that are vulnerable species.  However, the hunters were not ready to follow their elders' advice. The community elders made them understand that continued hunting would prevent the next generation from seeing the gorgeous creatures and their beauty. The village council even summoned specialists from several conservation organizations in India to address them and inform the locals. After around 5 years of discussion, Khonoma Nature Conservation and Tragopan Sanctuary (KNCTS) was established in 1998, and the village council set aside 20 sq km as the KNCTS.  This Naga village is now renowned for conquering ecological difficulties and triumphing. Now, people whose survival depended on hunting as well as others who did it as a holy cultural ritual have quit hunting and switched to farming.