Northeastern region of
India with states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya,
Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura is a major biodiversity centre.
Geographically it has the low ranging hills like Patkai-Naga Hills and
Lushai Hills and Brahmaputra and Barak valley plains. The region is
located at the confluence of Indo-Malayan and Pale artic biogeographic
realms. Tropical climate has enriched the fauna and the flora of the
region. It is the habitat of diverse biota with a high level of endemism
says a paper published by Sudipto Chatterjee, Abhinandan Saikia, Pijush
Dutta, Dipanker Ghosh, Govinda and A.K. Goswami of World Wildlife Fund
(India). The region is also the abode of 225 of India's 450 tribes, the
cultures and customs of which have an important role in understanding
biodiversity conservation and management issues.
H. Samati and R. Gogoi of
Botanical Survey Of India, Shillong studied the sacred groves (SGs) of
northeast and brought to light many hitherto unrecorded facts. Using
indigenous knowledge or traditional practices different communities of
northeast have been able to achieve conservation of forests without
government's aid. They have a firm belief that forests are sacred and
community in turn protects them as sacred groves. This region being
endowed with congenial climate for the growth of trees, the SGs serve as
natural habitat for many endemic, rare, primitive and economically
valuable plants along with a good number of wild animals, birds,
reptiles, amphibians, variety of butterflies and insects say Samati and
Gogoi.
Local inhabitants of Meghalaya maintain and preserve primary forest
patches near their settlements as part of their culture and religious
belief. These SGs are known by different names in different areas.
Khasis call them as Law Kyntang, Law Lyngdoh and Law Niam and people in
Jaintia hills call them as Khloo Blai, Khloo Blai Lyngdoh and those of
Garo hills call theirs as Waarangni Biap and Asang Khosi. People firmly
believe that their respected deities live in the SGs. Any damage to the
plants would offend their deities they believe. So strong is the belief
that even fallen branches of the trees are not collected. Certain
varieties of trees are not allowed to be cut at any cost. These patches
of forests are maintained by the village council. The council has all
the powers to even designate new areas as SG.
This is one prime reason why some of the tropical forests in India have
escaped the axe of the mankind. This fact is also acclaimed by the
Harvard expert William too ('Vanishing forests of
tropical Asia').
It has been observed by the scientists that because of community
forestry practices, the rich legacy of northeast has considerably
escaped the hacker's axe. Though in an endeavor to copy the style of
living of other societies has led to degradation of such forests in
northeast, yet efforts by organizations like Community Forestry
International (CFI) of USAID have helped to restore the degraded SGs.
Centre for Environmental Studies, North-Eastern Hill University,
Shillong carried out a detailed study of Community Forestry in
Northeastern India under the aegis of CFI.
Impressed by the traditional way of keeping forests intact, CFI
sanctioned a number of projects to study the ways and to interact with
locals to improve their forestry. Tribal resistance to British colonial
incursions into the hills northeast India in the early 19th century
resulted in special policies enacted to allow customary system of forest
management and respect for traditional systems of governance.
Since it was a unique system, the British did not encroach much and let
the tribes manage their resources. After Independence the pockets of
tribal forests were given constitutional recognition, so that the locals
can manage them easily. Threatened by formal mapping, boundary
registration and trends towards privatization of agriculture all have
led to deforestation, said the report of the CFI. However,
contemporarily several groups are active in an endeavor to bring back
the glory of the SGs.
Quoting the data from the State Forest Department, Samati and Gogoi
report that SGs cover approximately 1000 sq. km. in the State of
Meghalaya. Dr. B.K. Tiwari Head of Department has documented 16 SGs in
Garo, 48 in Khasi and 15 in Jaintia Hills as per a report published by
S.K. Barik and his colleague from Centre for Environmental Studies,
North Eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong. In addition 12 new SGs
have come up in Khasi Hills. These forests are in fact micro-level
hotspots for a variety of fauna and flora. It is estimated that at least
54 species of rare and threatened species of plants are found in the SGs
of Meghalaya.
In addition to above Samati and Gogoi were able to identify seven new
SGs in Jaintia Hills. The rich ethnobotanical wealth of northeast is
something special. They are not merely sacred groves, they are the gene
bank of the ecosystem. In the present degraded environment they attain
significance. The religious and ritual centric beliefs or taboos of
tribal have helped in conservation of this rich floral lineage. Had it
been left to usual conservation methods applied by the government
agencies, perhaps by now like other forests of the country these too
would have been wiped out by now!
But here is a note of warning. The uneducated tribal were guided by
their instincts alone and their rituals and beliefs helped in
maintaining the forest wealth. However, with the spread of education,
and so called 'modernisation of society' the tribal values are losing
ground. The trend is not good. Population explosion, demand for more
dwellings has tremendously enhanced the demand for timber.
In order to check further deterioration, Samati and Gogoi recommend an
extensive awareness programme to educate the locals about the SGs. The
State Forest Department and Ministry of Environment and Forests may have
to work in tune with local NGOs to develop ways to educate the locals
about the significance of the SGs. They recommend the SGs could be
developed as a centre of attraction for the tourists as well.
The traditional method of not touching the forests was in fact the best
way of protecting the forests and the fauna. The tourism boom will
certainly revolutionize the economy of the region but interference by
the tourists and the tour operators may lead to further deterioration of
the situation.
The traditional practices of northeast need to be developed in the form
a compendium for the present day researchers extols Prof Tiwari. He says
that traditional ways of management of forests in Sohra, forest gardens
of War area, safety and supply reserves of Mizoram, village forests of
Nagaland, Bun cultivation of Meghalaya, Apatani system of natural
resource management, bamboo drip irrigation of Khasi Hills, disease
management of betel growers of Meghalaya, combination of honey bee and
orange orchard in Cherrapunjee, rain water harvesting of Mizoram, bamboo
groves of the Jaintia of Tripura, sacred groves of Meghalaya etc., are
unparallel biodiversity management systems.
The Himalayan Hot Spot needs to be conserved. It can be best conserved
by the local people who have inherited the traits of traditional
knowledge. Irony is that those poor people do not have barest minimum
facilities, like medical facility. It is time for the State to act.
Provide facilities to the people educate them about their own
traditional knowledge through their own teachers, so that they can
manage their resource and keep the 'carbon sinks' of nature alive.
February 10,
2007
Image of a grove in
Meghalaya under license with
Gettyimages.com
Boloji.com is owned and managed by
Boloji Media Inc Privacy Policy |
Disclaimer No part of this Internet site may
be reproduced without prior written permission of the copyright holder.
