World Nature Conservation Day: These 5 communities of India preserve ecology in their own distinct ways

Subject :Environment

Section: Agriculture

Context:

The theme of World Nature Conservation Day 2022 is “Forests and Livelihoods: Sustaining People and Planet”.
Forest and Trees: At the heart of land degradation neutrality released in 2019 by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
Indigenous communities were the custodians of around 40 per cent of protected and ecologically intact landscapes and managed nearly 300 billion tonnes of carbon on lands owned by them with almost negligible investment.

Bishnois

The Bishnois are the stuff of legends. People whose women suckle antelope and who are willing to give up their lives for the Khejri tree.
This sect was founded by Guru Jambheshwar around 550 years ago in western Rajasthan. He gave 29 principles for humans to follow and worship every form of nature
The Maharaja of Marwar, Abhai Singh, had sent his soldiers to cut down trees in the Khejarli village in Jodhpur district. The trees were needed for the construction of a new palace.
But the residents of the village, led by a Bishnoi woman called Amrita Devi hugged the trees and refused to let the soldiers cut them. The angry soldiers massacred 363 villagers.

Khasis

The Khasis of Meghalaya are famous across India for their matrilineal social structure. What is less known is their devotion to nature and its conservation.
Khasis are among those communities who have a legacy of nature conservation. Khasi customary laws and practices allow for conservation of forests in the form of sacred groves
One core reason behind such practices is the dependence of people on nature. Khasis depend on these groves for a variety of resources from food to traditional medicines and as sources of many of their streams and rivers. In spite of change in lifestyle and modernisation, many of these core values of conservation still remain intact

Van Gujjars

The Van Gujjars are a semi-nomadic pastoral community, which continues to practice seasonal migration across forests in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh in pursuit of their pastoral livelihood.
The rotational grazing of the Van Gujjars and their buffaloes also help maintain water sources through embankments, removal of invasive species, facilitation in seed dispersal, remanuring the grazing areas and paths and creating fire lines within forests to protect the ecosystem for other species too
The phenomena of transhumance pursued by the community is among the few climate-adaptive and resilience strategies that ensures their pastoral livelihood remains viable and sustainable
The Van Gujjars Tribal YuvaSanghatan celebrates Sela Parv, a traditional afforestation festival which used to be conducted in the rainy season, around World Nature Conservation Day

Idu Mishmis

The Idu Mishmis live mainly in the districts of Lower Dibang Valley and Dibang Valley of central Arunachal Pradesh. They believe that tigers are their elder brothers. Killing tigers is, for the Idu Mishmi, a taboo.
The main feature of the Western model is the separation of people and the environment. Dan Brockington, the British anthropologist, coined the term ‘Fortress Conservation’ to describe the western model. Nature is to be protected by making it a fort, with little or no human presence
But for indigenous peoples like the Idu Mishmi, humans are part of the environment
In their worldview, the human and natural worlds overlap. There is a constant engagement with the environment through agriculture, hunting and harvesting of resources.

Apatanis

The Apatanis live in a small wooded valley surrounded by wooded hills in the Lower Subansiri district of Arunachal Pradesh.
The traditional rice agriculture in the valley evolved over centuries, without any resort to animals or wells. The terraced fields are landscaped on a slight incline, so that the water runs into each field at a high end and out at a low end.
The art of rice cultivation has descended from one generation to another in Apatani tribes. The practice based on traditional wisdom which has sustained over generations, has made rice production economically viable, ecologically safe and often energy efficient.