Self-sustaining Biodiversity Conservation through Tribal Livelihoods in Arunachal Pradesh
Ramana Athreya, IISER Pune
Arunachal Pradesh - a Global Biodiversity Hotspot
Few Indians would think of Arunachal Pradesh while discussing the premier biodiversity hotspots in the world.
In fact, few scientists have explored the region.
We know more about the birds of Arunachal than any other fauna.
The plot shows the heat-map of bird species density
In birds, Arunachal Pradesh ranks second or third on the global list, behind Andes-Amazonia in South America.
It has the highest density of rare species in the world
It ranks first in the concentration of song-bird species
Biodiversity Made Real
while there is some idea of the bird richness of the region we know next to nothing of other animals.
Ramana’s student’s research on the moths of the area have yielded spectacular assemblages such as shown below – over 2000 individuals comprising 200 different species.
The research on various fauna, especially moths, will be used to develop attractive biodiversity tourism products to expand tribal livelihood opportunities
31 August 2023, Ramana Athreya