Community based eco-tourism...

Eco-tourism generates income & promotes conservation in Apatani Plateau

The beautiful landscape of Apatani Plateau is one of the most ideal sites for eco-tourism in Arunachal Pradesh. The fine cool climate, well conserved community forests, cluster of old villages, rich social and cultural heritage of the Apatani community and proximity to Talle valley wildlife sanctuary provides the right ingredients for community based eco-tourism and conservation .

To tap the eco-tourism potential of beautiful Apatani plateau, Future Generations Arunachal (FGA) started community based eco-tourism with the support of Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in 2010.

The aim of the project is to promote responsible tourism so that it contributes to the preservation of tribal culture and conservation of the valuable pristine environment. One of the main components of the project was to diversify livelihood options by promoting home-stay in the Apatani villages. The idea was to bring the benefit of tourism directly to the community level and to give the tourists a unique experience of the Apatani eco- cultural landscape and true flavor of the way of life of the Apatanis.

FGA began the project by imparting various trainings on eco-tourism and benefits of home-stay facility. The training curriculum ranged from nature guide, trek development, packaging of local cuisine to marketing and networking with different stakeholders.

Later, six members were taken for en exposure tour to Sikkim to see the practices and mechanism of home-stay there. Soon after, two home-stay units were started in Siro village by Shri Hibu Tatu and Shri Punyo Chada. Now more home-stay units have been started in Tajang, Hija and Hong villages also. Home-stay units are now receiving tourist and hosted many guest from overseas also.

Further to oversee the whole initiative of eco-tourism FGA supported in formation of an apex community based institution called Ngunu Ziro. Now, the home-stay and allied activities are overseen and coordinated by Ngunu Ziro. It networks with tour operators, government agencies, expert organizations et al for promotion of the home-stay units.

To maintain equity in the flow of benefits of the home-stay initiative, Ngunu Ziro maintains a roster for allocation of visitors to the home-stay units. This ensures that there is cooperation rather than competition among the home-stay units.

The multiplier effect of the home-stay initiative also flows to the other community members. The local women of the villages has been organized into Self Help Groups

(SHGs). These groups are encouraged and supported to take up various activities like weaving, fish farming and kitchen garden.

Food items such as vegetable, rice, fruit, meat, fish handicrafts are provided by the SHGs to the home-stay units. Not only that, cultural programme such as folk dance and songs are presented by the local artist and villages women. The local youth are employed as nature guide or tour guide for trekking and sightseeing thereby providing meaningful employment to them.

The eco-tourism project of FGA has remarkably increased the sense of ownership of the local community members in protecting and conserving pristine local environment of the Apatani Plateau. They are increasingly realizing that development and conservation is not mutually exclusive.

Many tourists who visited Ziro and stayed in the home-stay facility have nice things to say about it. Mr. Navraj Pradhan, a visitor from International Center for Integrated Mountain Development , who stayed at Ziro said, , “It has certainly been a wonderful experience staying at a home stay facility, and the efforts in initiating, training and supporting these families by FGA and ATREE are visionary steps in promoting eco-tourism”. Gerry Marten of Wildlife Research of Bangalore said, “This was an amazing experience for me. Thanks for all your help and hospitality. all the best in all your endeavours. I will be back.’ Yet another visitor from Netherlands, Ms. Frida Duetiker said, “Very friendly-good and clean rooms and hospitality”.

Mr. Nalong Mize, Executive Director, FGA, feels that this model of home-stay initiative can be replicated even in other parts of Arunachal Pradesh with the support and partnership of Central and State Government. A Public Private Partnership (PPP) model can be developed where government can provide the infrastructure and financial support for training capacity building of the community, organizations/ institution like FGA can come in with training, exposure and facilitation and the community members come in with entrepreneurship. This will not only bring the benefits of tourism directly to the community level but will also lead to a more sustainable economic development for Arunachal Pradesh.

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Communities takes action!

Rice variety from Apatani plateau harvested in Mechuka valley

In one of its initiatives, Future Generations Arunachal (FGA) introduced rice variety from Apatani Plateau in Mechuka Valley. The Apatani rice variety was introduced on an experimental basis to see whether the alpine area rice variety would be suitable because of the similar climatic condition of Mechuka and Apatani plateau. From earlier trials of the farmers, it was found that the rice variety of the tropical areas like Assam did not flourish well in the alpine climate of Mechuka.

To carry out this experiment, FGA mobilized the women’s group led by Mrs. Lindu Goiba of Dorjeeling village of Mechuka valley to cultivate the rice variety brought from Ziro. Earlier, the women’s group members from the village were sent to Ziro for an exposure visit to get a firsthand experience of rice cultivation technique of the Apatani community. After coming back from the exposure trip, the women’s group started cultivation of rice in a 15 x 20 meter size plot of land. The first batch of paddy crop was harvested last month. The total yield was 27 bags of paddy from the plot. With this successful experience the women’s group of FGA now plans to further increased rice cultivation in their land. This exercise is a successful demonstration of one community learning from the best practices of another community.

With sustain and extensive cultivation of rice by the villagers, the food security could significantly improve in Mechuka valley. The partnership and support of the State Government can further broad based this small effort to cover the whole of Mechuka valley. In this way, most of the fallow land of Mechuka valley can be brought under cultivation.

The example of FGA women’s group is also now being emulated by other community members. Villagers like Kamlera Morsing also started rice cultivation in his land after seeing the rice cultivation of Mrs. Lindu Goiba and her group.

Besides growing rice, now some farmers also started rearing fish in Mechuka. Though it is against the relegious tenets of the Memba community to kill living things, after exposure to rice cum fishy-culture of the Apatani community, the farmers of Mechuka tried rearing fish in the rice field. Later this fish were shifted to ponds. This experiment successfully demonstrates the viability of rice cum fishery even in Mechuka valley. With further development of fishery, many of the wetland of Mechuka valley can be converted into fish ponds thereby enhancing the local economy. Now most of the fish are imported all the way from the plains.

In the same manner, women group members are also growing vegetables in the kitchen gardens. This initiative has improved nutritional intake as well as the income of the villagers. Now, these women’s group is also actively working with the agriculture department in many of its schemes and programmes.

Learning from the success of rice cultivation experiment, now the farmers like Dorji Khandu Goiba of Dorjeeling village also wants to grow Apatani bamboo in the region. Successful import of Apatani bamboo will greatly enhance the availability of local material for daily usages. Most of the empty slopes of the valley are very suitable for Bamboo plantation. Support and partnership of the State Government with the local community can make this materialize. One day, in the near future perhaps one may see groves of Apatani bamboo in Mechuka valley.

empowering local communities for....

The two days training cum- exposure trip for the communities from Yazali & Yachuli circle ended at Dorjeeling Village, Mechuka in West Siang District on 29th November 2011. The exposure trip was organized by Future Generations Arunachal (FGA) for the women groups participating in the project entitled “Identifying Best Practices to Empower Arunachal Families”. The same program was started at Yazali, in Lower Subansiri and Koyu area in East Sing district in 2008.

The community members from Yazali and Yachuli circles who paid brief visit to Mechuka were impressed by the volunteer works of the women groups (FGA) of the Mechuka viz. Dorjeeling & Dechingthang women groups which improving nutrition and increasing family income through activities e.g, kitchen gardens and micro-credit programs. The women groups from the villages around Mechuka had inspired the wet rice cultivation and the promoting of kitchen gardening of the apatani people in Ziro during their visit in 2010 last.

The same process of change is practicing by the women groups of Mechuka since the climatic condition of both the places is almost similar. The programme was aimed at encouraging local people to explore various ways of mobilizing community energy to enable them to participate in the developmental processes and hence empower them to shape their future.

The Participants shared their achievements and challenges they faced while working with FGA since 2008. The team participating in the training cum- exposure trip was led by Mone Gurung, R & D, Associate and the project supervisors Kago Yam from Mechuka and Punyo Rina,Yazali area.