Arunachal villagers fight losing battle to save forest

Subject: Environment

Residents of Nyukmadong village said Border Roads Organisation destroyed more than 80% of the 36 sq. km forest without consultations or compensation
The WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) declared the patch as a community reserve forest because of its rich biodiversity. The red-listed Indian red panda is found in this area.
Community representatives said the deforestation (for the road) affected their traditional holy sites, locally called ‘phu’.

Sela Pass

The Sela Pass is a high-altitude mountain pass located on the border between the Tawang and West Kameng districts in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Sacred Groves

Sacred groves are communally protected forests which usually have a significant religious connotation for the protecting community.
In India, there are over a lakh sacred groves across different states called by different names like Kaavu in Malayalam, Koyilkaadu in Tamil, Orans in Rajasthan, Devarakaadu in Karnataka, and Sernas in Madhya Pradesh.
Many rare and endemic species, and species having medicinal and economic value can be found here, thus making them Biodiversity Hotspots. They house gene pools of some critically endangered plant species.
They are often associated with religious beliefs and felling of trees in sacred groves is considered taboo.
Sacred groves have been legally protected under ‘community reserves’ in the Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Act, 2002.

Border Roads Organisation

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is a road construction executive force in India that provides support to and is now a part of the Indian Armed Forces.
BRO develops and maintains road networks in India’s borderareas and friendly neighboring countries.
Officers from the Border Roads Engineering Service (BRES) and personnel from the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) form the parent cadre of the BRO.
It works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence.