Background

Rhododendron is one of the dominant genera in the temperate and timberline forest ecosystems in the Eastern Himalayas. Most of the rhododendron species in the state of Arunachal Pradesh are in threatened and endangered category due to severe threats which the landscape faces. These include over extraction of Rhododendrons for fuel wood, uncoordinated development activities like construction work, natural calamities, forest fire and shifting cultivation. Most of the Rhododendron habitats near to roads are in degraded condition due to easy accessibility to local communities who are using Rhododendrons as fuel wood. Besides, extension of grazing areas, agricultural land, human settlement and various developmental activities have resulted in degradation of many of the Rhododendron habitats in the area.

Objective

The project has an overall aim to link enterprise development with conservation. Specifically, it aims at awareness creation amongst the villagers as well as the tourists coming there about the significance of the Rhododendrons and ensures the conservation of the genus by generating income for the villagers from them.

Activities

Under this project, WII has already established a Rhododendron food squash preparation unit with an installed capacity of 150 liters per day in village Sakpret in Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh. The villagers are trained in squash preparation along with maintaining extreme hygienic conditions. Proper resource assessments were carried out before establishment of the processing center and the villagers were trained in the sustainable collection of Rhododendron flowers, extracting less than one third of the flowers from each tree. The villagers have also set aside 5.5 ha of land as a Rhododendron arboretum from where no flowers will be extracted or trees removed for any purpose. Rhododendron based tourism will be promoted based on the Rhododendron arboretum demonstrating the technique of sustainable utilization of the resource for community benefits. The site also will be used to understand impacts of flower extraction, if any in the community forest from where the flowers are sustainably extracted for squash production in the following years.

Achievements

The unit produced around 3000 litres of squash in the first year and have sold the product completely. The villagers have received direct monetary benefit of Rs 1.5 lakhs in the form of payment for the labour involved during the production of squash. The sales have generated a profit of Rs 40,000/- which the village level committee (which has been trained by WII) will be depositing in the bank and utilizing for village development activities.