Itanagar: At a time when there is an overarching concern about the paradigms of development and protection of natural resources in Arunachal Pradesh, it was a very proud moment when the State and its traditional communities were applauded for their sustainable use and management of resources. The applause came at the COP11 (XIth conference of parties convention on biological diversity) in Hyderabad yesterday. Various responses from the international audience at the side event on ‘Different Indigenous And New Approaches In Natural Resource Management In The Bio-Culturally Diverse State Of Arunachal Pradesh’ organized at the Conference showered praise on the traditional practices and natural resource management systems being followed by the tribal people and expressed how it is these communities who are at the forefront of protecting the world’s biodiversity. These responses from the diverse audience that comprised of scientists, researchers, academics, activists and development agencies besides high-ranking government representatives drove home the knowledge that in the protection of our bio-diversity, as in any other initiative, the community remains at the hub of implementation and success, sources said here on Friday. In his opening remarks, Arunachal Pradesh State Medicinal Plants Board (APSMPB) Chairman Bamang Felix said, “The challenge today is not whether to look at development and natural resource management as conflicts. Rather to see how they can jointly enrich the sustainable livelihoods of people.” He appealed to the international and national community to support such conservation endeavours of the tribal communities and in the process, empower them. He shared that the State Government had the highest level of commitment to ensure that the traditional ethos of conservation of our tribes do not just survive but also flourish. He earlier released a pictorial publication on globally significant medicinal plants authored by Dr D Yonggam, scientist at the State Medicinal Plants Board. The highlight of the side event was the interaction that the audience had with representatives of various community organizations from Arunachal who had travelled to Hyderabad for the event. They included Takam Nabum of Ghora-Abbey Society, an organization of gaon buras who are spearheading a hornbill protection programme through nest adoption at Seijosa. Mudang Challiang of Hong Biodiversity Management Committee also shared the community’s own experience in interfacing with new conservation approaches introduced. Kara Topu of Bath VFMC also interacted with the audience. Tado Tayum, a traditional healer who works out of his home in Nirjuli drew the audience’s attention with his candid remarks on the current state of traditional healers and shared how he had been able to treat even critically ill patients that modern medicine had given up on. Earlier, presentations on various aspects of conservation were made by a panel of experts that included T Gapak, Member Secretary, APSMPB on Medicinal Plant Conservation Areas, Jayahari from Inspire on the value addition to rhododendron and Amruta Rane from Nature Conservation Foundation who spoke on the Hornbill nest adoption programme being carried out in Seijosa. In the joint presentation made by Dr P K Samal of GB Pant Institute, Itanagar and Dr Piyush Dutta of World Wildlife Fund, learning points for biodiversity conservation, ecological and economic security were explored through the prism of community based resource management. Dr Kenjum Bagra of the AP Biodiversity Board spoke on conservation through traditional faith and belief and filmmaker Appu Gapak’s film “Wisdom of Traditional Healing” was screened. CCRD Executive Director Moji Riba made an audiovisual presentation on the state’s bio-cultural diversity. In his concluding remarks, B S Sajawan, PCCF spoke on how these traditional practices were already ahead in achieving quite a few of the Aichi Targets on biodiversity. He said that there is a need today to take these initiatives further into the communities and to have a participatory approach for their true success. Putting at rest concerns about intellectual property rights of the tribes and bio-piracy, he emphasized that recent initiatives like the People’s Biodiversity register and the Bio-Cultural Community Protocols that have been taken up by some communities will go a long way in protecting their rights over resources. Dr Ruchi Pant from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Vice Chairman of the APSMPB, Soni Digio also attended the event as special guests. The presence of the Arunachal delegation and the holding of the side event at this highly significant Conference of Parties attended by representatives of 175 countries have helped put its people and their concerns on the global canvas in a big way. What will now become important for the team as well as the government is to take the learnings from this event and translate them into action that will truly reflect India’s commitment to the CBD and the mandate of nurturing the environment. Only then will the State’s participation at the event be remembered as first in the list of many steps.