Support in protection of forests in Meghalaya by adopting participatory, gender centric and equitable approaches
Meghalaya is part of the Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspot and harbors a richness of endemic plant and animal species. It is home to several indigenous communities, such as the matrifocal Khasi-Jaintia and Garo communities, who have been using the landscape to gather and produce food for millennia in a sustainable manner that demonstrates the traditional value of caring, sharing, and living in harmony with nature. To ensure that communities continue to value and conserve the rich biodiversity around their landscapes, which has been sustained by their traditional socio-cultural knowledge and practices, NESFAS believes that the adoption of People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) can play an important role in documenting this rich knowledge. This documentation will enable them to make sustainable use of their biodiversity, protect their intellectual property, and exercise customary rights over these tangible resources. Through this project, a total of 71 Biodiversity Management Committees in the rural communities of Meghalaya were mobilized to document local biodiversity and its related indigenous knowledge in the form of People’s Biodiversity Registers (PBRs), especially focusing on species that have often been ignored and marginalized. In the long run, this effort will significantly contribute to increased knowledge on accessing quality seeds for local farmers, creating, conservation of biodiversity. The project is currently supported by the Meghalaya State Biodiversity Board (MBB) and the Nature Conservancy (TNC).