Sustainable Intensification of Ecosystem Services for Conservation of Production Agriscape and Biodiversity in Community Conserved Forests of Western Arunachal Pradesh, India

Overview

Arunachal Pradesh located in the northeast Indian Himalayas, has rich agro-biodiversity nurtured by traditional agriculture and highly diverse agro-climatic landscapes. The core agriscape encompasses Tsangyang Gyatso Biosphere Reserve and Bugun Community Reserve which contain diverse ecosystems ranging from semi-evergreen to broadleaved warm temperate forests and pine-forests, with abundant wildlife in rain-shaded areas and five tribes with diverse languages and religions, from animism to Tibetan Buddhism. Pine forests are suitable for slash-and-burn agriculture, and fire reshapes the productive farmland. The failure to manage this fire-cultivation regime and the human-animal conflicts that result from human encroachment into the wild are a major threat to this landscape. In addition, tribes using terraced rice paddies at higher elevations are at high risk of ear infertility during flowering, while those in lower valleys are experiencing heavy rains and flooding as a result of climate warming. Furthermore, black-necked cranes (BNC), an endangered bird species, roost in Sangti village on the project site during the winter. The migration of this bird depends on rice varieties, especially the fragrant red rice. Therefore, the non-cultivation of this indigenous rice causes a threat to the migratory behaviour of the BNC. In considering these issues, this project aims to achieve sustainable intensification of ecosystem services as a biodiversity conservation measure in the production agriscape of community-conserved forests in Arunachal Pradesh, to improve food security and livelihoods of the agrarian indigenous communities.
The overarching objectives therefore intended to:
1. Map the changing trends of indigenous farming practices on a geospatial platform to identify the drivers of change;
2. Assess its direct impact on local agro-biodiversity & ecosystem services and its tandem effects on local livelihood and wildlife habitat; and
3. Prepare a place-based habitat conservation framework for adaptive agriscape management through demonstrated action-research and participatory planning towards sustainable intensification of ecosystem services.

The following activities were conducted:

• Resource mapping with nature capital, aspects of practicing agriscape and anthropogenic habitation were prepared on a geospatial platform, covering 85,000 hectares, 12 indigenous hamlets;
• A detailed sociometric assessment for indigenous communities to understand livelihood vulnerability, societal attitude of conservation and level of dependence on local biodiversity and ecosystem services of the agriscape;
• Preparing an infogram depicting the changing agro-farming practices in the agriscape on a reference platform (Graphical) to understand the decadal trends, impacts on biodiversity of cultivar and non-cultivars, wildlife and habitat, as well as the status of ecosystem services therein;
• Planning and implementation of a participatory conservation programme in selected parts of the production agriscape to ensure sustainable intensification of ecosystem services through capacity building, awareness-building campaigns and technology cooperation (e.g. controlling of microenvironment by manipulating shade and water availability, genetic introgression of Early Morning Flowering trait to reduce spikelet sterility during anthesis, etc.); and
• Developing an operational guideline and conservation framework based on the societal, ecological and economic impact assessment analysis towards sustainable intensification of ecosystem services and habitat conservation as a decision support toolbox for replication and scaling up.

Key achievements

The project achieved the following:

• In situ conservation of indigenous rice variety and flora and fauna of the agriscape through rigorous training and awareness-buildling campaign among the local communities.
• Restoration of BNC through prevention of the habitat destruction and fragmentation
• Re-establishing the migratory behavioural pattern of BNC in the study site
• Conservation of ethnic or traditional livelihood scenario through regular cultivation of red rice
• Integrating the essence of tourism industry through the return of BNC to the study site
• Involving local stakeholders and institutions by creating a multi-stakeholder platform and engaging in capacity building for local women through that platform
• Institutional networking, inspiring local NGOs to install a solar powered fence around agricultural fields to stop cattle grazing
• Inspiring local youth to organise local festivals on environmental themes such as waste management and promotion of renewable energy use.

Lessons

• Agro-avian biodiversity is an intermingled phenomenon, so it must be dealt with using a holistic approach
• Community awareness using a public biodiversity register can be used as a tool for knowledge integration and dissemination
• Socio-economic facets of society can be stabilised through sustainable conservation