Biodiversity Conservation in Nagaland: A Case of Kigwema Village
Viphreseno Yhokha
Research Associate, State Council of Educational Research & Training (SCERT), Kohima, Nagaland, India.
Sanihe Ariijii
Assistant Professor & HOD, Department of Sociology, Don Bosco College, Kohima, Nagaland, India.
Shumpenthung Ezung
Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Don Bosco College, Kohima, Nagaland, India.
Nagaland is a State in the Indo-Myanmar biodiversity hot spot and is blessed with abundant flora, fauna and cultural heritage. Nevertheless, the fragile ecosystem is still endangered by unsustainable activities like shifting cultivation, logging as well as forest fires. The paper is based on a case study of community-based biodiversity conservation in a village, Kigwema village, which is designated as a Home Stay Village by the Government of Nagaland. The paper puts much emphasis on the positive actions of the community, such as the prohibition of hunting and logging, the creation of the Kigwema Biodiversity Conservation Trust, and the encouragement of eco-tourism (homestays, trekking paths, and education). Such projects have created self-sustainable livelihoods and at the same time maintained environmental balance. In spite of its success, there are still obstacles, including infrastructural deficiencies, cultural obstacles, and regulatory obstacles such as the Inner Line Permit. This paper ends by stating that the combination of community governance, eco-tourism, and enabling policy frameworks can help to improve conservation impacts and make such a combination a replicable model of sustainable development in biodiversity-rich areas in Northeast India.
Keywords: Biodiversity, Conservation, Ecotourism, Homestay, Community participation
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