The people living in mongoloid belt from China to Philippine and Mali are agrarian living entirely on seasonal rain dependent agriculture. Their staple food is paddy of hundred wet and dry varieties cultivable in varied climatic conditions. They had cultures of sustenance moulded in the cradle of forest of rich biodiversity through a long span of time beyond one's imagination. Forest was their home, forest was everything to them and what not. Today, in the name of development they are in the verge of abandoning the treasure handed over to them by their bygone forefathers. The sustainable way of livelihood capable to feed the billion with the produce of the green is being lost leading to the loss of themselves.
To highlight the trend of deterioration, Manipur a small state in the North East India is taken as an example of
this mongoloid belt. The state is in the mountainous corridor of the east and the west flanked by the yore inaccessible Himalayas on the north and water of Bay of Bengal on the south. It possesses a rich floral and faunal components shared by China, Mianmar, mainland of India, Himalayas and Malayan Peninsula. It situates just on the north of the Tropic of Cancer in between the Eastern Himalayas and the Great triangle in a spot of very high congestion of rain bearing cloud by virtue of both North East and South West Monsoons. It is a region of Patkai Ranges running from the north to the south forming a bowl shaped topography with a Central Valley ( more or less 760 MSL ) of less than 10 percent of the total geographical area of 22327 square Km. The highest is in the north with Mount Tenepu in Senapati District ant the lowest in the south and south east regions of more or less 300 MSL
By virtue of it's typical topography, about 30 degree inclination toward the zodiac, rainfall of the range from approx.1m to 3m annually and moderate temperature ranging from 0 degree Celsius to 23 -25 degree Celsius, Manipur is endowed with microclimatic conditions of the northern hemisphere with the exception of those of Tundra and North Pole nourishing a very rich biodiversity collectively noticed in the northern half of the globe. It is in the catchment of two international great rivers- Iravadi in Mianmar and Bramhaputra in Tibet and India. When 50 percent of the landmass of the Blue Planet was covered with forest some 10,000 yrs back toward the close of the 5th Glaciation Manipur was clad with forest of rich diversity spread over nine tenth of the total geographical area, monitored by a big water body of the valley nourishing a rich sub tropical and temperate aquatic flora and fauna. It is a paradise of migratory birds ,covered by two international migratory routes, with Phoomdi ( floating phytomat ) on which a rich biodiversity of denizens thrive including brow antlered deer ( Corvus eldi eldi ). Though degraded, the environmental condition was to some extent sustainable and regenerative up-to 150 yrs back.
Now the forest has reduced to untraceable primary ones.The big water has reduced to a mere wet-land with Keibul Lamjao National Park toward the south, the only floating national park of the world , recognized as Ramsar Site, and the last refuge of Cervus eldi eldi. The rainfall has dropped drastically reducing the spring, the brook, the rivulet and the river to depressions of periodical flooding. The Mercury column has risen up-to maximum .38 degree Celsius dropping hardly to 0 degree Celsius. The winter of 6 months has reduced to 3 months only. Presently, Manipur is under one of the Mega Hot Spots of the world-- Indo- Mianmar Mega Hot Spot.
The organic farming of hundred varieties of paddy ( adapted to dry and wet cultivation ), multiple varieties of pulses and vegetables guided with a rich culture of cultivation with surplus yield for consumption and the yore barter system has now completely been replaced with mechanical farming with chemical fertilizer. The keeping of cattle, the drought animal has almost been abandoned. The abundance of resident and riverine fishes through the Manipur river via the Iravadi and the Barak via the Brahmaputra has led to almost insignificance. Game birds and wild denizens to be hunted have reduced to threatened extinction.
The retell of the past to the latest generation and generation to come will merely be a folk tale. We are no other else not to be cursed by our own children. We are, now, living on what handed over by our forerunners. What do we have to hand over to our children ???.
Is it not too late to go back to the rich culture of cultivation of short cycle jhooming wherever feasible, wet cultivation in terraces and plain assisted with modern scientific know how to feed seven billion. Modern method of cultivation is of recent origin and untested in stress and strain. It will, always, fail to defy the aged culture of cultivation, the accumulation of techniques through hit and trial for a long.........span of time breaking through stress and strain. Why should not we go back to the culture of cutting for fuel, housing and other accessories for the very living in allotted forest leaving the stump to sprout once again? Is it the right way to uproot the rootstock for preparation of charcoal ? We are,now, compelled to raise and conserve the forest, we depend on for everything to live and to bring back the mother Blue Planet to sustainable and regenerative normalcy from the ever increasing Global Warming. Where there is forest there is water and where there is water there is forest and food to feed seven billion provided the intrinsic system of the Earthly Environment is not interfered beyond her regenerative capabilities.
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