In order to seek good harvest and prosperity, the people of the Adi community of Arunachal Pradesh celebrate Solung festival. Starting from the first day  of September, the people of this community adorn traditional attires and engage in the Ponung, one of the traditional folk dances of the Adi community. This is performed during the Solung festival and other auspicious occasions to seek good harvest and welfare of the village community to complement the lush green mountains of the Siang and Dibang Valley.  Women drape themselves in vibrant red-colored Gale, a wrap-around along with traditional ornaments, and men comfort themselves with a traditional handwoven jacket known as Galuks.

Women of the Adi community in between the dance performance; Photo by WTI

The Adi community in the East Siang District started the celebrations a little early this year, from the end of August through the restoration activities they are actively involved in for Wildlife Trust of India’s D’ering-Dibru Saikhowa Elephant Corridor Project, supported by the World Land Trust

The project follows a community-based conservation approach to secure connectivity for wild elephants through the protection of critical community forest patches as Community Reserve (CR) and restoration of degraded forest lands, therefore the active participation of every community member in every aspect of the project has always had an impact on our conservation actions in the region.

“Ane Party” taking shots at the field

Women, especially the tribal women have always been engaged with nature. As much as the men of their community, they have been working in the field, dwelling in the forest as often and sometimes more than the men. A few months back, during a discussion with WTI’s field officers regarding micro functioning of self-help groups (SHGs), which are mostly run by women, one of the ladies from the community pointed out how they are always asked for their active participation in weaving support or SHG work and not so much for restoration related activities, unlike the men are. They also expressed their interest to be part of the sports activities, WTI has previously organized through the course of the project as a way of community mobilization.

Taking this into consideration, this year’s restoration activities was actively led by the women folk of the community ‘Ane Party’ which did exemplary work to undertake plantation in degraded forest patches of the corridor. Locally ‘Ane’ means mother in many tribal languages of Arunachal Pradesh. and a group of women is usually referred to as “Ane Party” by the villagers.

From the football match organized for the women during Solung festival; Photo by WTI

WTI team also organized a football match for the women’s community during Solung to celebrate their active leadership and participation in the restoration activities and other project-related aspects. This was an instance where the “Ane Party” managed to funnel their enthusiasm and participation in the field activities of the project.

Women in indigenous communities are among the first to experience the devastating impact of environmental issues however, they also hold a unique role and position in taking action on environment and conservation issues. Empowering the women to participate and engage in such aspects enhances the holistic way of community effort for conservation.