Stadiochilus R. M. Sm. (Zingiberaceae: Zingibereae), a new generic record for India

The monotypic ginger genus Stadiochilus R. M. Sm. with S. burmanicus R. M. Sm. earlier known from Myanmar is reported here as a new record for India from the state of Nagaland. A detailed taxonomic description along with photographic illustrations of S. burmanicus is given. For conservation purposes, the IUCN status of this species has been evaluated as Endangered. The present field study ascertained that extraction of timber and non-timber forest products, forest fires and shifting cultivation are the major threats to the species in the locality in Nagaland reported here.

Landscape plasticity and its erasure

For centuries, people who call themselves Akha had formed village landscapes of rotating shifting cultivation fields amid regenerating trees together with enduring wooded sites, all under the purview of their ancestors. In Mengsong, an Akha settlement on the ridge separating China and Burma, farmers had managed complex, biodiverse and flexible landscapes for 250 years. In 1996–1997, my extended research there identified cultivation patterns that I called landscape plasticity, referring to farming practices that were highly mutable over space and time, often transgressing state-allocated property lines and the international border with Burma. From 1997 to 2011, a combination of exclusionary state forest policies, the racialization of upland minorities, and a state poverty alleviation project brought landscape plasticity and the ancestors to an end. Using concepts from sentient landscapes, resource access, environmentalism, racialization, and capitalist markets, this paper seeks to explain how landscape plasticity and the ancestors were erased. At the same time, I explore the puzzle of why Akha farmers saw these contingent outcomes as positive

Smallholder agriculture results in stable forest cover in riverine Amazonia

Recent studies point to a rapid increase in small-scale deforestation in Amazonia. Where people live along the rivers of the basin, customary shifting cultivation creates a zone of secondary forest, orchards and crop fields around communities in what was once was old-growth terra firme forest. Visible from satellite imagery as a narrow but extensive band of forest disturbance along rivers, this zone is often considered as having been deforested. In this paper we assess forest disturbance and the dynamics of secondary forests around 275 communities along a 725 km transect on the Napo and Amazon rivers in the Peruvian Amazon. We used high-resolution satellite imagery to define the ‘working area’ around each community, based on the spatial distribution of forest/field patches and the visible boundary between old-growth and secondary forests. Land cover change was assessed between ca. 1989 and 2015 using CLASliteTM image classification. Statistical analyses using community and household-level data from the Peruvian Amazon Rural Livelihoods and Poverty (PARLAP) Project identified the predictors of the extent of forest disturbance and the dynamics of secondary forests around communities. Although shifting cultivation is the primary driver of old-growth forest loss, we find that secondary forest cover which replaces old-growth forests is stable through time, and that both the area and rate of expansion into old-growth forests are modest when compared to forest conversion in Peru for colonization and plantation development. Our findings challenge the notion that smallholder agriculture along rivers is an important threat to terra firme forests in Amazonia and point to the importance of protecting forests on community lands from loggers, colonists and other outsiders.

Perception of Shifting Cultivation Practicing Farmers towards Soil and its Nutrient Loss in Zunheboto District of Nagaland

The present study was conducted in the Zunheboto district of Nagaland. Zunheboto is bordered by Mokokchung district in the east, Kohima district in the south and Wokha district in the west. Out of total twelve districts in Nagaland, Zunheboto district is selected for the study. Majority of the respondents were from middle age group, educated up to literate, middle caste group from the joint family, having large family size. Most of the respondents were from small size of land holding, having medium group of annual income, majority of the respondents were from medium social participation. The findings of the study indicated that majority of respondents had adequate knowledge regarding impacts on complete forest loss, impacts on diverse land use system, bad impact of burned land on health of people and burning practice negatively impacted the biochemical processes of soils. Correlation coefficient showed that variables viz.., annual income, Land holding, social participation, extension contact were positively and significantly related with perception of respondents towards shifting cultivation practices.

IMPACT OF FALLOW ON SOIL HEALTH IN MOKOKCHUNG DISTRICT, NAGALAND, INDIA

Two sites were selected from the district of Mokokchung, Nagaland viz., Forest Regeneration Site (FRS) and Shifting Cultivation Site (SCS). At FRS, soil pH ranged from 5.00±0.13–5.50±0.04, soil moisture 35.44±1.09–53.39±0.84%, soil temperature 14.33±0.47–23.83±0.23 °C, soil organic carbon 2.20±0.08–3.03±0.02% and available nitrogen 424.48±6.73– 547.46±2.10 Kg/ha. At SCS, soil pH ranged from 5.94±0.24–6.53±0.02, soil moisture 30.32±2.64–45.72±0.98%, soil temperature 17.83±0.62–26.1±0.08 °C, soil organic carbon 1.67±0.29–2.34±0.08% and available nitrogen 324.16±8.42– 443.20±1.06 Kg/ha. Significant correlation between soil temperature, pH, soil moisture and available nitrogen was observed at FRS, while correlation of soil moisture and pH was observed at SCS. A total of 21 fungal species belonging to 13 genera were identified from the two sites. FRS had more fungal diversity than SCS. The genus Aspergillus was dominant in both the studied sites. The study observed the detrimental effect of the shifting cultivation on soil health and highlights the need for monitoring and rectification to preserve soil health.