Table 2.  Diversities of cucurbits in North East India

·         Land tenure issues: Land tenure systems vary widely among different North-Eastern states, which are quite different from the rest of India. The complexity in land ownership and tenurial rights makes it difficult for survey, demarcation and consolidation of land. Therefore, cadastral survey and land demarcation are completely absent in the hill areas of northeast.

·         Gender and equity issues in natural resources and diversity management: Unequal distribution of land resources is responsible for increasing dependence on forests by certain sections of the society leading to diversity degradation. Resolving the gender and equity issues concerning natural resource management is equally important in the North-East as in the other parts of the country.

·         Over exploitation of genetic resources

·         Deforestation and soil degradation

·         The adverse impact of development and increase in the population

·         Inter-departmental coordination: There is a need for a close inter-departmental coordination for the sustainable management of horticultural resources in the region.

·         Smuggling of timber across the international border: The illicit felling of trees and timber smuggling across the international borders has been the most important cause of horticulture areas/forest degradation in border.

·         Shifting cultivation: Unregulated shifting cultivation by the local tribal populations has been a major threat to sustainable diversity management particularly in unclassed and community forests in the region.

·         Inter-state border dispute: There exist a lot of inter-state border disputes among the north-eastern states. Most of these border areas are forest lands and because of boundary disputes, such lands are often declared as ‘no man’s land’ and hence, does not come under any form of management. This leads to the degradation of diversity in such areas.

·         Insurgency: The long insurgency problem in some states such as Assam and Tripura has considerable impact on diversity conservation.

Although there are not many agencies/organizations working exclusively for diversity conservation in the north-east per se, the activities taken up by many organizations including non-governmental and traditional institutions, government departments and scientific institutions have direct or indirect implications for diversity conservation.

·           State Government Agencies: Many state agencies are now involved in such diversity conservation activities and establishment of germplasm banks for horticultural crops.

·         Research Organizations: Many state and central government research organizations including universities of the region are engaged in research, inventory and conservation of diversity in the region. Such organizations are Botanical Survey of India, Shillong; GB Pant Institute of Himalayan Environment and Development, North-East Unit, Itanagar; Indian Council of Agricultural Research for North-Eastern Hill Region, Barapani, Shillong with campuses through out the north-east; State Forest Research Institute, Itanagar, NBPGR, Shillong; North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong; Nagaland University, Kohima; Mizoram University, Aizawl; Arunachal University, Itanagar; Tripura University, Agartala; Assam University, Silchar; Tezpur University, Tezpur; Gauhati University, Guwahati; Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat; Regional Research Laboratory, Jorhat; Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh.

·         Non-Governmental Organizations: Many non-governmental organizations are now working for the conservation of diversity in the north-east.

·         International Agencies: International donor agencies in Meghalaya, Manipur, Assam and  Nagaland have been playing crucial role in conserving the diversity through their respective projects.

·         International and National Policies and Conventions: Many of the international treaties and national policies have significant impact on the conservation of diversity in the north-east.

·         Shifting Cultivators: The shifting cultivators and other traditional farming communities of north-east have played a key role in conserving the rich horticultural crops germplasm of the region. In spite of the availability of many hybrid and high yielding varieties, these farmers have been cultivating the traditional varieties for generations.

GAPS IN DIVERSITY CONSERVATION

The depletion of diversity and inadequacy in actions to conserve the diversity of the region may be attributed to several factors, which range from inadequate knowledge about diversity and its components to adoption of wrong and inappropriate policies by the concerned stakeholders.

·       Information on urban diversity is scanty

·       Species inventory in inaccessible areas of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Karbi Anglong and North Cachar hills of Assam, and parts of Mizoram and Manipur is yet to be made.

·       Information on genetic diversity is extremely poor

2. Gaps in vision: Most of the programmes and activities being undertaken by the state governments are shortsighted. Long-term planning based on sustainable development strategies and integration of diversity conservation issues with development planning are the needs of the hour.

·       Monoculture plantations: In order to increase the revenue generation, the State Horticulture Departments pursue the policy of raising plantations of commercially important species by clearing and burning the natural diversity areas.

·       Introduction of high yielding varieties/hybrids of crops: The horticulture departments are introducing various high yielding varieties/hybrids of cucurbitaceous crops. This is associated with increasing use of inorganic fertilizers and chemicals for plant protection. Such policies not only ignore the indigenous species and varieties but also have adverse effects on existing flora and fauna.

3. Gaps in policies and legal structure

·       The wrong conservation policies with focus on economically important species have been harmful to diversity. Such policies as adopted in Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland and Meghalaya have not only decreased the species diversity in natural/rehabilitated forests but have also resulted in accelerated soil erosion and loss of soil moisture.

·       The policy of rehabilitation of jhumias through rubber plantation as has been done in Tripura may prove to be a disaster for other floral species in such areas.

·       The policy of promoting high yielding varieties and assessment of progress and success on the basis of consumption of fertilizer and plant protection chemicals has led to ignoring the indigenous varieties. The government subsidy and credit policy is instrumental in adopting these schemes.

·Through the Public Distribution System only HYV are distributed. There is a need to include distribution of indigenous varieties too.

·       The planners have not considered the role and value of diversity in preparing developmental plans.

·       Most of the problems are related to increase in population. The rate of population growth in the northeast is unusually high. This causes tremendous strain on the natural resources and adoption of certain policies that are not very friendly to conserve diversity. No population policy has been adopted for future planning.

·       Education policy does not include teaching on diversity conservation. The school curriculum should be able to mould the young minds in favour of diversity conservation.

·       No policy as such is operational to create awareness among masses for diversity.

·       The number of trained taxonomists in the region is grossly inadequate. This is one of the most important bottlenecks for completing the inventorization of diversity.

·Not all persons concerned with management of genetic resources understand the concept of diversity in proper perspective. Many of them suffer from biased attitudes. So it is imperative that those who plan, decide and implement the developmental programmes are adequately trained and educated in favour of diversity conservation.

·    There are a number of institutions, departments, colleges, universities, NGOs, local community groups that follow certain programmes having bearing on genetic resources. While framing their programmes, these agencies are motivated to pursue their own goals in watertight compartments without considering their impact on other programmes or existing resources. There is no institution, which can make them sit together and discuss the programmes in a holistic manner.

5  Gaps in diversity related research and development

·       Regeneration and cultural practices for many species need to be researched and standardized for their cultivation. Threatened species need immediate action for ensuring their continued existence.

·     Identification and classification of threatened species need to be done.

·     Richness of diversity of horticultural crop species is yet to be fully inventorized and documented.

·     There is a serious gap between research and field needs. The established formal institutions like university departments, departmental research stations and others rarely consult the farmers and local communities about their problems while pursuing research. Need-based research needs to be encouraged.

CONCLUSION