Adapting to climate change: conserving rice biodiversity of the Apatani tribe in North East India

A working paper titled “Adapting to Climate Change: Conserving Rice Biodiversity of the Apatani Tribe in North East India” by Ms Swati Chaliha and Dr Promode Kant, has been published by the Institute of Green Economy (IGREC), New Delhi. The paper says that owing to its highly diverse physiographic and agro-climatic landscape, and sustained immigration over a millennium, the North Eastern part of India is one of the richest rice biodiversity regions of the world. The Apatanis, who practice terraced cultivation, have evolved 16 rice varieties with predominance of japonica strain. But climate warming is now posing a grave threat to the japonica varieties.