Nature Conservation Foundation has been carrying out research and conservation activities since 2003 in and around the Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR). Alongside all this work, we also engaged with children and students from local schools on various occasions, but these activities were sporadic and not planned systematically.

The EHP began a formal Nature Education Program (NEP) in 2017 in partnership with the Pakke Tiger Reserve management, Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department. We set up Pakke Nature Clubs in six local schools (4 government, 2 private) in villages around the Seijosa Range of Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR) and in 2022, we registered five more schools and expanded the program to the Tippi range of PTR as well.

The main aim of the Pakke Nature Clubs is to expose children to the forests and wildlife in and around Pakke Tiger Reserve through year-round activities, which culminate in nature camps inside the park.

Before we began engaging with the students from different schools we conducted training workshops for the Forest Department staff, NCF staff, school teachers and a few community members on how to conduct nature camps for children. Since 2017, our in-house nature education expert, Dr. Pranav Trivedi who has also conceptualized the program has conducted three teachers training workshops in Pakke.

Nature camps are the highlights of our Nature Education program. Every year in November-December, school children get to camp out in the middle of the forest for two nights and three days. Younger children get to attend one-day camps. Our first batch of camps were conducted in November 2017 with 150 students from 4 local schools. Since then we have engaged with around 3000 students through nature camps and year round activities.

These Nature camps are based on three different modules specifically designed for the Biodiversity and landscape of Pakke by Dr. Pranav Trivedi for children of different age groups.

During these camps the students not only learn important natural processes such as food chain, water cycle, photosynthesis etc. but, they also get to bond with the forest and its wildlife through nature walks, games and other activities. Refection and sharing is also a very important part of these camps.

Besides Nature Camps, we also engage with the students year round through different events and activities that include rainforest nursery visits, bird walks, classroom sessions, nature art workshop and much more.

In 2020, due to unprecedented situation we could only carry out online activities and a few on ground events that included online Nature/bird/plant Bingo, campus birding, nature games and nursery visit. From 2021-22 onwards we resumed our on ground activities with a few schools in Seijosa where we carried our campus bird walks, played nature games and conducted storytelling sessions in classrooms.

From 2023 to 2025, three workshops were organized in the Pakke Tiger Reserve, Arunachal Pradesh, for nature educators and community members of Northeast India. This work is in partnership with Canopy Collective and Green Hub and in collaboration with the Pakke Tiger Reserve Management. All three workshops were facilitated by Dr. Pranav Trivedi and Ms. Sangeetha Trivedi and brought together 67 nature educators from different north-eastern states and a few other Indian states.

A key outcome of these workshops has been the development of Where the Forest Teaches, a nature education manual bringing together activities rooted in the forests, wildlife and landscapes of Northeast India that was co-developed by workshop participants.

Following interest generated through earlier workshops, region-specific training was conducted for 16 community youth and schoolteachers from Samsing and 12 community youth from Todey-Tangta, both located on the fringes of Neora Valley National Park in North Bengal. These participants are now working towards developing nature education activities that incorporate local culture, community knowledge and people's relationships with nature, and delivering programmes for children in their villages. This represents an important shift from training individual educators to building community-level capacity for sustained nature education.

1. Wildlife of Pakke - Coloring book

2. Secrets of the Rainforest – Nature Activity Book for children in Arunachal Pradesh. 

3. Our Hornbills of Arunachal Pradesh - Poster

4. How Hornbills Breed: Rufous-necked Hornbill - Poster

5. How Hornbills Breed: Oriental Pied Hornbill- Poster

6. How Hornbills Breed: Great Hornbills - Poster

7. How Hornbills Breed: Wreathed Hornbills - Poster

8. Where the Forest Teaches- Book

Also watch this short film about the program:

Saniya Chaplod coordinated and managed the Nature Education Program in Pakke TR from 2019 to 2023 and currently works part-time as a consultant to lead our annual Nature Education Camps in the winter months and activities with schools.