Assessment of cultural ecosystem services and lifestyle of apatani tribe in ziro valley

Abstract

Apatani is among the major ethnic tribal groups of Arunachal Himalaya inhabiting eco-culturally valued zone in Ziro valley, sharing 2.26% population of the Arunachal Pradesh. The community is one of the major ethnic groups of eastern Himalayas, have a distinct civilization with systematic land use practices and rich traditional ecological knowledge of natural resources management and conservation, acquired over the centuries through informal experimentation. It is famous for paddy-cum-pisciculture cultivation. The area is renowned for the terrace paddy fields where the unique system of poly-culture and water management is practiced by the local people. Being included as in India's Tentative List for UNESCO's World Heritage Site and a major attraction point for cool weather during summer, it needs to hold the capacity for tourist’s inflow with respect to ecological values. Forest based land use has been classified into 8 sub-types having a plot size of 0.096±0.006 to 8.602±0.385 ha and agriculture with 6 sub-types of a plot size between 0.015±0.001 to 0.098±0.007 ha. Richness of forest is maintained through traditional ecological knowledge by means of selective harvesting, as well as by conserving the potential, ritualistic and socio-culturally valued species. Ziro Valley, a fascinating piece of land comprises of about 33 km square of cultivable areas out of 1058 km square of plateau, undulated by small hillocks at an elevation of 1525 m to a mountains tract ranging from 1830 to 2900 m in altitude. Only a limited area has been brought under cultivation, whereby the rest is under settlement and forest cover, which signifies the ecologically equilibrium management practices. Resource conservation is not only confined to forestry but also to agriculture with high agro-biodiversity (16 and 4 landraces of rice and millet respectively), and strong sense of soil and water conservation practices through indigenous technologies. Agronomic yield is five times as high as state average with maximum of 55 q/ha, and is further strengthened by integration of fish culture. By appreciating the potential role of biodiversity in rural economy of Apatani and its socio-cultural values, conservation of flora and fauna is in their social norm over centuries. This purpose of this thesis is to capture the complexity of the multi-layered Cultural Ecosystem services and their association with the lifestyle of Apatani tribe in Ziro Valley.