Evidence that cultural food practices of Adi women in Arunachal Pradesh, India, improve social-ecological resilience: insights for Sustainable Development Goals

Sustainable use of biocultural diversity can help achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in many ways. The tribal communities of bio-culturally rich Northeastern India rely heavily on local food resources and knowledge for livelihood security. In this study with Adi women of East Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh, India, we aimed to understand (i) access and use patterns for biocultural plants and animal species from diverse ecosystems and (ii) species diversity and conservation strategies deployed by Adis. We employed a novel participatory approach called “recipe contest” to mobilize Adi women from 15 randomly selected remote and transitional villages. Data collected through interviews, focus group discussions and transect walks from 75 women, were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative methods. We found that traditional local food was linked intricately with women’s knowledge, access patterns, and socio-cultural institutions. From an end-user perspective, remote Adi villages had more widespread use of plant species (14 as food; 34 as food-cum-ethnomedicine and 13 as income-generating species) and animal (17) as food in remote than in transitional villages. Further, there were significant differences (p < 0.000; 0244 and 0.000, respectively) across the social groups for use of plant- and animal-derived food and ethnomedicine. Among different land use systems (i.e., Jhum lands, home gardens, and morang forests), the highest diversity for food plant was found in home gardens while that for food-cum-ethnomedicinal plants and animal species was observed in morang forests. Adi women apply traditional agronomic, cultural, and harvest strategies, based on local knowledge and institutions and varying with social systems, to conserve their key local resources. Significant correlations (r = 0.63 to 0.92) were seen between conservation and use of food and animal species. Traditional knowledge on these aspects was linked intricately to the socio-cultural milieu and is transmitted inter-generationally through various social institutions. Cultural food practices, crucial to social-ecological resilience and livelihood security of Adi and similar indigenous communities confronting global environmental challenges, need to be mainstreamed with relevant policies for achieving some targets of SDGs.