YAZALI, May 29: The concluding day of the BeejUtsav 2026, which brought together scientific expertise, indigenous wisdom, and grassroots enterprise at the Govt Hr Sec School in Yazali, saw panellists examine how Keyi Panyor’s forests, wetlands, and agro-ecosystems can serve as living infrastructure against climate volatility, and produced recommendations to be submitted to the state government for integration into Arunachal Pradesh’s State Action Plan on Climate Change.
Co-organized by the Yachuli MLA Office, KVK Keyi Panyor, ArSRLM, and MSSRF, the day reaffirmed Keyi Panyor’s distinction as India’s first ‘Bio-Happy District’ and charted a roadmap for scaling its model of ecological sustainability across the region.
The morning session opened with a technical panel on nature-based solutions chaired by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests P Subramanian.
Padma Bhushan Rajeev Sethi led a specialised design workshop exploring how agricultural by-products — rice straw, bamboo offcuts, and seed husks — can be reimagined as materials for handicrafts, packaging, and sustainable building. Sethi called for a design incubation cell within Keyi Panyor linked to national craft bodies, urging participants to treat cultural production as a dynamic engine of green economic growth.
The centrepiece of the day was the formal launch of the ‘Seeds of Hope’ ecological greening initiative, a district-wide programme mobilising community seed conservers, school children, Nyishi and Apatani tribal councils, and village youth clubs as frontline ecological stewards.
MSSRF Chairperson Dr Soumya Swaminathan, presiding alongside MLA Toko Tatung, described it as the living embodiment of the Biohappiness philosophy, with women and youth placed at its operational core.
The Arunachal Agrobiodiversity Festival and Sustainable Livelihoods Exhibition concluded with a marketplace session featuring over 60 indigenous crop varieties, traditional food processing demonstrations, and value-added products from community seed conservers, the Spices Board, and local enterprises including NAARA AABA.
Organizers announced that a permanent Agrobiodiversity Resource and Market Linkage Centre will be established in the district.
MLA Tatung reaffirmed his office’s commitment to translating the resolutions of the BeejUtsav into concrete policy action within the current fiscal year.
Dr Soumya Swaminathan closed the proceedings confirming MSSRF’s dedicated research partnership with KVK Keyi Panyor to document and publish the district’s indigenous ecological knowledge systems for national policy formulation.