Lumami: A national conference on biodiversity conservation and climate resilience in Northeast India began at Nagaland University’s Lumami campus on October 6, bringing together researchers, academics and experts to discuss the region’s environmental challenges.
The National Conference on Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Resilience in North East India–2026 (NCBCCR-2026) is being held at the I. Ihoshe Kinimi Hall, Nagaland University.
Conference convener Prof Ashutosh Tripathi said the Northeast’s rich forest cover, diverse ecosystems and indigenous knowledge required an integrated approach to conservation.
He said rising climate risks and biodiversity loss called for closer links between science, policy and practice, with conservation strategies centred on local communities and indigenous knowledge.
Chief guest Prof PK Mishra, Professor (HAG) of Chemical Engineering at IIT (BHU), Varanasi, and former vice-chancellor of AKTU and JTU, formally inaugurated the conference.
Mishra warned that continued ecological degradation posed risks to human survival. While acknowledging Nagaland’s natural heritage, he said increasing human activity was affecting local landscapes and called for sustainable practices that remained in harmony with nature.
Guest of honour Sridramappa M Chalkpure, an Indian Forest Service officer, said Nagaland’s high concentration of endemic species made the state particularly vulnerable to environmental degradation.
He said traditional conservation practices had come under pressure from modern development and highlighted the role of government initiatives such as Biodiversity Management Committees in enabling local communities to protect natural resources.
Nagaland University Vice-Chancellor Prof JK Patnaik said the state had historically preserved its forests but that development and modernisation had coincided with increasing natural disruptions, including landslides and cloudbursts.
He called on researchers to document environmental changes at a finer scale to support wider conservation efforts.
Prof Santosh Kumar Singh, Dean of the School of Sciences, said climate change posed an immediate threat to the region and stressed the need to combine indigenous knowledge with modern scientific research.
The conference brought together 91 participants, including 14 resource persons, 67 registered delegates and 10 Nagaland University faculty members.
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