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

Overview

The proposed intervention aims to achieve sustainable intensification of ecosystem services as a measure to conserve biodiversity in the agricultural production landscape (‘agriscape’) of community conserved forests in Arunachal Pradesh, India. It thereby seeks to ensure food security and improved livelihoods of the agrarian indigenous communities of the eastern Himalayas. The area comprises diverse agro-climatic ecosystems with rich agro-biodiversity based on traditional farming practices. Its community reserve forests are inhabited by five tribes with diverse linguistic and religious affinities practicing traditional slash-burn agriculture, which re-shapes the agriscape. In view of new challenges, such as rising temperatures, shifting of terraced fields to higher altitudes or clearing valleys, the current situation demands an adaptive framework for planning how to conserve the production agriscape through a sustainable intensification of ecosystem services. The project therefore intends to map the changing trends of indigenous farming practices on a geospatial platform to identify the drivers of change and as well as assess its direct impact on local agro-biodiversity and ecosystem services and its tandem effects on local livelihood and wildlife habitat.