The remarkable story of the tiny community of Mawphlang in India’s northeastern state of Meghalaya illustrates how indigenous people are protecting their watersheds and biodiversity by revitalising their traditional institutions and culture. Mawphlang’s tribal community is now the country’s first REDD pilot. REDD or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and (forest) Degradation is a mechanism that allows communities to generate income from carbon credits.
O sacred forest, we are so proud of you…people come from all over—East and West—to see you, praise you…you beckon us with your colours, waterfalls, fresh air…your fragrance spreads over all…all rites and rituals are for everyone, to heal all and bring peace and harmony for the whole Hima (domain) and the world. This is a song about Mawphlang’s Sacred Forest, composed and sung by Pyrshailang Lyngdoh, a native Khasi from the village.
Giant stones or megaliths believed to be 500 years old and a repository of the remains of dead ancestors, mark the boundaries of Mawphlang’s 75-hectare sacred forest, an hour’s drive from the state’s capital city of Shillong. These stones are silent witnesses to numerous traditional beliefs and legends about the sacred forest, revered and preserved by local Khasi (tribal) communities.
“In this forest, you cannot cut any trees or branches—if you do, illness and misfortune will befall you. That is our belief. Fruits, flowers, water used by people (inside the forest only) can make them healthy; there are many medicinal herbs that can cure diseases”, says 50-year-old Tambor Lyngdoh. As secretary of the Federation of 10 Himas (comprising 5,180 households)that have pledged to protect their forests, Tambor Lyngdoh has been spearheading the indigenous movement of forest conservation in the area since 2005.
Northeast India—the land of the scenic seven sisters—is still considered one of the world’s ‘hot-spots’ of biodiversity, despite alarming levels of forest degradation that is an inevitable fallout of modernisation, increased consumerism and population pressures.
In Meghalaya, a state once famous for its thick forests, dwindling forest cover—an annual forest loss as high as 5.6 per cent from 2000-2005 in the East Khasi hills district—has spurred communities to take charge of their own forests and their ‘sacred’ legacy. And since forests are largely owned and administered by local communities with their own systems of grassroots governance, revival campaigns have integrated traditional and contemporary practices with astonishing results.
Indigenous community institutions like the Mawphlang Lyngdoh-ship (or village government council) have successfully introduced measures such as social fencing, regulating fuel wood harvesting and grazing, using smoke-less chullahs or stoves, switching to higher value stall-fed livestock, controlling forest fires by laying down fire lines in ten meter patches outside the forests and banning mining at nearby quarries.
As a result, aided by US-based non-profit environmental organisation Community Forestry International or CFI in the past (CFI closed down in 2015), the Mawphlang community has regenerated their forests and set up a federation of Himas that will allow them to earn income from carbon credits. This forest landscape restoration project that includes the Mawphlang Sacred Grove and covers 62 villages, is poised as India’s first REDD pilot. It has 28 community facilitators, including 12 women facilitators since 2015; distribution of 500 solar lamps for homes, and an equal number of electric rice cookers, along with a shift from smokeless ‘chullahs’ to LPG gas, are among other initiatives done by the community.
Innovative strategies such as a wildlife corridor, eco-trails and awareness campaigns with schools and colleges are being used to strengthen the intrinsic bond that a Khasi has with the forest.
Tambor Lyngdoh travels from village to village, organising ‘dorbars’ or hamlet discussions, passing on oral traditions of forest conservation to the younger generation, the future custodians of these resources—keeping the past glory alive through ways that serve present needs.
Will the Mawphlang mantra for forest conservation be the starting point of a much larger revival of indigenous people whose forests and cultures are increasingly becoming endangered? Will the communities retain their biggest strength―their traditional wisdom and indigenous character?
Watch When The Forest Is Home, a documentary by Minnie Vaid on the laudable efforts by Mawphlang locals to protect their sacred land!
Minnie Vaid is a documentary film maker and television professional, specialising in issues that confront rural India, related to development, gender, environment, health, human rights, social awareness, and empowerment. Shooting in villages, building bases with NGOs, establishing a rapport with villagers across the length and breadth of the country, across different issues,highlighting community initiative, is her world.
Sacred forest Mawphlang Pics by Tambor Lyngdoh
Film Credits
Director: Minnie Vaid
Editor: Irene Dhar Malik
Camera: Kamki Diengdoh
Sound: Julius Basaiawmoit
Produced by: Community Forestry International
Grateful thanks to Mark Poffenberger and Kathyrn Smith-Hanssen.
A Little Doc production
Very informative article and documentary.