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Preserving and nurturing deeply interconnected cultural relationships to facilitate coexistence

The Dibang Valley (Chithu Huluni in the Idu language), located in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, is the ancestral homeland of the Idu Mishmi people. The Valley has mixed vegetation, including tropical and sub-tropical forest and bamboo, as well as temperate broad-leaved and conifer forests. The elevation rises from 100 m to above 5000 m across its 13000 km2 mountainous geography. The forests host diverse wildlife species, including tiger Panthera tigris, common leopard Panthera pardus, clouded leopard Neofelis nebulosa, wild dog Cuon alpinus, Mishmi takin Budorcas taxicolor and Himalayan musk deer Moschus chryogaster. The Idu Mishmi are traditional animists for whom “human dispositions of consciousness, intentionality, and mortality belong to all beings, including animals and spirits”. According to Idu origin stories, tigers are their elder brothers. Consequently, harming or killing a tiger is the most serious taboo, one that invites grave danger to the “murderer”.

Between 2013 and 2015, a team of researchers and local Idus conducted the first ever scientific camera trap study on tigers in the Dibang Valley. The study revealed a higher tiger population in the Dibang Valley than in many of the government-managed tiger reserves. This unique phenomenon was attributed not to park guards and a top-down management approach, but rather to the protective influence of the Idu culture. Shortly afterwards, a team of government scientists conducted camera trap surveys in Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary, a protected area located in the northern part of the Valley. The sanctuary was declared in 1998, apparently without local consent.

This case study covers the historical background to these relationships between the Idu Mishmi people and tigers, exploring how external interventions – specifically, the implementation of a top-down tiger reserve model – may lead to unintended negative outcomes for both the Idu Mishmi and the tiger population, and it will examine ongoing efforts to maintain these intricate relationships.

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