are used to till the land before irrigation. The vision of the community is well reflected in the management and sharing of water as the entire community has a stake in it, and its equal distribution ensures collective survival and social cohesiveness within the community. Recycling crop residues and use of organic wastes of the village for sustaining soil fertility practiced by the Apatanis is an effective way of restoring soil fertility. At harvesting, rice stems of up to 60-70 cm are left on the plot to decompose. After separation of the grain, the straw and spikes are spread on the plots to dry, and burned later. Weeds are also buried in the soil. Biodegradable wastes from the homesteads comprising vegetable, poultry and piggery waste are spread on the plot. The canal draining the village wastewater, which carries organic material, is also emptied on to the plots. 1.2 Rice cum Fish farming Rice cum fish farming by the Apatani involves a uniquely ingenious way of water and agricultural resource management. The level of water is maintained by opening and closing inlets and outlets called hubur made of bamboo. The preparation for rice cum fish farming starts after the final harvest of rice in November. Land preparation operations during December-January include installing inlets and outlets with bamboo pipes, raising and widening of bunds, and loosening and levelling the soil. Trenches about 50 cm deep are dug in the field to provide shelter to fish. The Apatanis prepare the fields with conventional daos (an implement for cutting) and spades. They consider these practices economically and ecologically viable. Three strains of Common Carp fishes, (Cyprinus carpio specularis, C. carpio communis and C. carpio nudus) have been raised concurrently with paddy (Saikia and Das, 2004). These species are preferred for its high viability and feeding habit. Fingerlings are introduced during April and harvested in July, during the cropping phase of the early rice. About 2,500 fingerlings are reported to be used for one hector. This gives an average yield of 550 kg per hector annually (Tangjang and Nair, 2015). Fish feeds, primarily on natural food such as pteridophytic Azolla species, phytoplankton, zooplankton, periphyton, and benthos grown in the rice fields (Mustow, 2002). Fishes also eat harmful insects like water beetle, grasshopper and others. ‘Lemna minor’ and ‘Azolla’ are also eaten by fishes that originate in the root portion which fixes Nitrogen in the field. In turn, the waste material of fishes acts as manure to the plant (Ankita and Goswami, 2015). Fishes are caught from trenches during the harvest using the indigenous trap. The rice cum fish farming system has become an important agro-cultural activity of the Apatanis. Indeed, the Apatani farmers do not have many options other than practicing this ingenious farming system due to scarcity of arable land resources. 2. Sacred Groves Sacred groves form an important part of the traditional resource conservation system in many parts of India. They can be called as stands of trees or patches of forest that the indigenous communities conserve mainly because of their religious beliefs and rituals that run through several generations (Gadgil and Vartak, 1975). They are the repositories of rare species and can be regarded as the remnants of the primary forest left untouched by the local communities due to the belief that deities reside in these trees or forests. Many sacred groves have been re-corded from Arunachal Pradesh of which that of Apatanis and Buddhists monasteries are Proceedings of the International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the 125 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
Proceedings of International Conference on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for the Sustainable Development Goals : Policy and Practice 27-29 June 2016 at the Sirindhorn International Environmental Park, Cha-am, Phetchaburi, Thailand
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