Satoyama Initiative in SEPLs of Eastern Himalayas

The International Partnership for the Satoyama Initiative (IPSI) has been working with its diverse partners to promote various activities on the sustainable use of socio-ecological production landscapes and seascapes (SEPLS) in both developed and developing countries since its launch in October 2010. To further promote the implementation of IPSI activities, the Satoyama Development Mechanism (SDM) was jointly established by UNU-IAS, IGES, and the Ministry of the Environment, Japan (MOEJ) as a collaborative activity under the framework of IPSI. SAFE being an active partner in this initiative is working on the SEPLs in Arunachal Pradesh to achieve sustainable intensification of ecosystem services to conserve biodiversity in the agricultural production landscape of Eastern Himalayan Terrain. It thereby seeks to ensure food security and improved livelihoods of the agrarian indigenous communities of the eastern Himalayas. In view of new challenges, such as raising temperatures, shifting terraced fields to higher altitudes, or clearing valleys, the current situation demands an adaptive framework for planning how to conserve the production agriscape through sustainable intensification of ecosystem services. The project, therefore, intends to map the changing trends of indigenous farming practices on a geospatial platform to identify the drivers of change and as well as assess its direct impact on local agro-biodiversity and ecosystem services and its tandem effects on local livelihood and wildlife habitat.