Safeguarding Lepcha and Limbu cultural values and worldviews for conservation and sustainable development in the Eastern Himalayas, India Case study for the project ‘Indigenous biocultural heritage for sustainable development’ Elen Tshering Lepcha, Nawraj Gurung, Ajay Rastogi, and Krystyna Swiderska August 2021 SAFEGUARDING LEPCHA AND LIMBU CULTURAL VALUES AND WORLDVIEWS, EAST HIMALAYAS, 2021 About the Authors IIED is a charity registered in England, Charity No.800066 and in Scotland, OSCR Reg No.SC039864 This report was prepared by Elen Tshering Lepcha, and a company limited by guarantee registered in Nawraj Gurung, and Ajay Rastogi, all at Lok Chetna England No.2188452. Manch, India, and by Krystyna Swiderska at IIED. Acknowledgements More on this case study The authors would like to thank the British Academy’s This report is one of a set of four case studies from the Sustainable Development Programme, supported by the project ‘Indigenous biocultural heritage for sustainable UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund, for development’. Other case studies in the series include: funding this study (Grant ref. SDP\100139); and IIED’s frame funders, IrishAid and Sida (Sweden) for funding Indigenous Naxi-Moso cultural values and worldviews for the production of this report. The grant has enabled Lok sustainable development: Four Village Biocultural Chetna Manch and village communities of Lingsey and Heritage Coalition, Yunnan, China Lingseykha in Kalimpong District of West Bengal, India Towards a Biocultural Heritage Territory in Rabai to work together and further explore their rich biocultural Cultural Landscape: Exploring Mijikenda cultural values heritage. We are particularly grateful to Dr JR Subba, and practices for sustainable development eminent scholar and author of several books on the Limbu people. This study is rich in sociocultural history Sumaq Kausay and Ayllu: Quechua values and and traditional ecological knowledge thanks to the young worldviews for conservation and sustainable and enthusiastic community of researchers ― who development in the Chalakuy Maize Park, Lares, Peru delved deeply into their traditional knowledge and belief IIED is a policy and action research organisation. We systems ― with the help of their elders and other senior members of the community, such as Captain (retd) Lal promote sustainable development to improve livelihoods Singh Limbu. The hospitality and knowledge shared by and protect the environments on which these livelihoods Dawa Lepcha and his family, particularly his mother, are built. We specialise in linking local priorities to global during field visits is gratefully acknowledged. challenges. IIED is based in London and works in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific, Local facilitators such as Mr Dorjee T Lepcha, President, with some of the world’s most vulnerable people. We Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association and Mr Yusuf work with them to strengthen their voice in the decision- Simick, Centre for Mountain Dynamics, have sustained making arenas that affect them — from village councils their commitment over the decade in facilitating a to international conventions. biocultural heritage territory approach in the Lingsey and Lingseykha area. Published by IIED, August 2021 Many senior decision makers and policymakers in the http://pubs.iied.org/20361G West Bengal government administration gave their time International Institute for Environment and Development and support to the project. Notably, Mr Manoj Pant, IAS Third Floor, 235 High Holborn, London WC1V 7DN, UK Principal Secretary; Mrs R Bimla, IAS District Magistrate, Tel: +44 (0)20 3463 7399 Kalimpong; Mr Jitendra Roy, WBCS Joint Secretary, www.iied.org Agriculture; Mr TVN Rao, IFS Principal Chief Conservator of Forests; Dr AK Sanyal, Chairman, State @iied Biodiversity Board; Mr Rajiv Sharma, IFS, Secretary, www.facebook.com/theIIED State Biodiversity Board and Mr Topden Lama, WBCS, Chief Development Officer, Kalimpong. Download more publications at http://pubs.iied.org The administrative support from IIED, particularly Beth IIED publications may be shared and republished in Downe working together with Jogendra Bisht, president of Lok Chetna Manch, made this project function accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution- smoothly. Lastly, without the immense technical support NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public of the IIED Principal Investigator (PI) Krystyna License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Under the terms of this Swiderska, this study would not have been possible. The licence, anyone can copy, distribute and display the cooperation of international partners Dr Yiching Song in material, providing that they credit the original source China, Dr Chemuku Wekesa in Kenya and Mr Alejandro and don’t use it for commercial purposes or make Argumedo in Peru in sharing their experience in this derivatives. Different licences may apply to some study helped make this work so methodical and rich. illustrative elements, in which instance the licence will be displayed alongside. IIED is happy to discuss any aspect of further usage. Get more information via www.iied.org/Creative-Commons. SAFEGUARDING LEPCHA AND LIMBU CULTURAL VALUES AND WORLDVIEWS, EAST HIMALAYAS, 2021 Contents List of tables and figures 2 Acronyms and Abbreviations 3 Executive Summary 4 1. Introduction and project objectives 5 2. Community context and biocultural heritage 6 2.1 Community context 6 2.2 Biocultural heritage ― Threats and challenges 9 3. Objectives and approach of the India study 12 4. Research approach, methods and tools 14 5. Results 18 RQ 1: Ethnicity: stories of origin and community connection to the landscape 18 RQ 2: Indigenous worldviews and values of well-being for sustainable development 19 RQ 4: Biocultural systems: Main elements and inter-connections 28 RQ 5: Livelihoods and opportunities for strengthening biocultural economy 30 RQ 6: Biocultural Heritage and Sustainable Development Goal 2 ‘End Hunger’ 34 6. Analysis of the Findings 37 6.1 Similarities and differences between different groups and communities/villages 37 6.2 Lessons for establishing BCHTs 37 7. Conclusion and Recommendations 41 References 46 www.iied.org 1 SAFEGUARDING LEPCHA AND LIMBU CULTURAL VALUES AND WORLDVIEWS, EAST HIMALAYAS, 2021 List of tables and figures Table 1: Number of focus tribe households (HH) in project villages/hamlets identified for study .........................................................................................................................................30 Figure 1: The pyramid structure of Lepcha organisation (Sheezoom) ....................................... 8 Figure 2: Age and gender composition of households ............................................................. 31 Figure 3: Annual income percentage from different agricultural sources of surveyed households ...............................................................................................................................32 Figure 4: Annual expenses of surveyed households ................................................................ 33 Figure 5: The Andean Ayllu concept. Alejandro Argumedo (ANDES, Peru) ............................ 38 www.iied.org 2 SAFEGUARDING LEPCHA AND LIMBU CULTURAL VALUES AND WORLDVIEWS, EAST HIMALAYAS, 2021 Acronyms and abbreviations BCHT Biocultural heritage territory DM District Magistrate FGD Focus group discussion FPIC Free and prior informed consent GIAHS Globally important agriculture heritage system GP Gram panchayat GPDP Gram Panchayat Development Plan GTA Gorkhaland Territorial Administration ha Hectare HH Household IAS Indian Administrative Service IFS Indian Forest Service IIED International Institute for Environment and Development ILTA Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association LCM Lok Chetna Manch MGNREGA Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act NGO Nongovernmental organisation PAR Participatory action research PDS Public Distribution System PVTG particularly vulnerable tribal groups RQ Research question SDG Sustainable Development Goal [of the United Nations] SIFOR Smallholder Innovation for Resilience project WBCS West Bengal Civil Service www.iied.org 3 SAFEGUARDING LEPCHA AND LIMBU CULTURAL VALUES AND WORLDVIEWS, EAST HIMALAYAS, 2021 Executive summary Biocultural heritage territories (BCHTs) are mosaics of land uses, deeply linked to knowledge systems embedded in cultural traditions. The Potato Park in Cusco, Peru is perhaps the best-known example of a BCHT, where Indigenous knowledge and practices effectively combine food production with sustainable development, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem protection. This study was conducted as part of the ‘Indigenous Biocultural Heritage for Sustainable Development’ (2018–2021) project, funded by the Sustainable Development Programme of the British Academy. The project explored how Indigenous Peoples’ worldviews, wellbeing concepts, cultural values and norms promote or hinder biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. Focusing on the Lepcha and Limbu communities in Lingsey-Lingseykha, Kalimpong District, North Bengal, India, this case study explored the interconnections between culture and biodiversity, and how biocultural heritage contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 2 ‘Zero Hunger’. It explored the feasibility of establishing a community-managed BCHT, and used the Potato Park’s decolonising action research approach where research is co-designed and facilitated by Indigenous community researchers. It found