ITANAGAR, Sep 1: Arunachal Pradesh MLA Toko Tatung on Tuesday presented the development vision of Keyi Panyor district at the inaugural Global Conscious Food Systems Summit 2026 in Paro, Bhutan, highlighting the role of Indigenous knowledge, biodiversity, food systems and human well-being in shaping sustainable development.
Representing the 16-Yachuli Assembly Constituency and Keyi Panyor district, Tatung became the first legislator from Arunachal Pradesh to participate in the summit, where he presented the Keyi Panyor Mission Plan 2040 (KPMP 2040) as a long-term, community-driven development framework.
The summit is jointly hosted by the Royal Government of Bhutan, the Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), bringing together leaders, indigenous representatives, scientists and development practitioners from 65 countries.
Tatung was a panellist at the high-level session titled “Rising to the Moment: Igniting Consciousness to Address the Polycrisis”, alongside former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, Mara Lisa Arizaga of the UN Human Rights Office, Chizuru Aoki of the Global Environment Facility and spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi, who joined through a video message.
The larger high-level segment featured former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Bhutan Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Dr Harini Amarasuriya, among others.
Tatung used the global platform to showcase KPMP 2040, which was formally launched on August 15, 2026. The mission plan covers 20 priority areas, including education, health, agriculture and agroecology, biodiversity, forests and water, livelihoods, women and youth, culture, renewable energy, tourism, infrastructure and local institutions.
Speaking as a member of the Nyishi community, Tatung placed Indigenous knowledge at the centre of his intervention, stressing that traditional ecological knowledge and modern science must complement each other.
“Our scientists have knowledge. Our farmers also have knowledge. Our universities have knowledge. Our grandmothers also have knowledge. The future has to be built when these forms of knowledge sit at the same table,” he said.
Linking food systems with ecology and climate justice, Tatung said food security was inseparable from soil, water, forests and biodiversity, while also being connected to nutrition, livelihoods and cultural heritage.
He highlighted the disproportionate impact of climate change on vulnerable communities, saying that for people facing floods and other climate-related disasters, climate change is experienced directly through the loss of fields, homes, livestock, seeds and livelihoods.
A key component of the Keyi Panyor development vision is Biohappiness, a concept associated with Dr MS Swaminathan. Keyi Panyor is being developed as India’s first Bio-Happy District, with the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and other partners working to link biodiversity conservation with nutrition, livelihoods and human well-being.
“Conservation must also produce dignity. Agroecology must also produce livelihoods. Local food must also produce good nutrition. Forests must remain standing, but communities who protect those forests must also prosper,” Tatung said.
He stressed that biodiversity conservation should be undertaken with communities rather than by excluding them, adding that conservation must contribute to their well-being.
The MLA said KPMP 2040 was already being translated into programmes on the ground. Under the Comprehensive Action Plan for Education (CAPE), more than 90 per cent of government-school teachers have participated in district-wide cluster workshops, while initiatives are also being undertaken with Anganwadi workers focusing on early childhood education and nutrition.
In agriculture and ecology, Keyi Panyor is working with MSSRF and the Participatory Action Research Coalition of India (PARCI) on natural agriculture, agro-biodiversity conservation, ecological livelihoods and community-based planning.
Tatung said the ultimate measure of KPMP 2040 would be what the district leaves for future generations. Recalling an elderly farmer who asked him what would be left for their grandchildren, he said the question had become central to the Mission Plan.
“An MLA gets five years. A child born today may live for eighty or ninety years. A forest may take hundreds of years to become what it is. So why should our idea of development have a five-year horizon?” he asked.
He emphasised that KPMP 2040 should not be identified with any individual or political tenure.
“I may or may not be in politics in 2040. That is irrelevant. KPMP cannot belong to Toko Tatung. It has to belong to Keyi Panyor,” he said.
Concluding his intervention, Tatung said the objective was not to replicate the development model of other cities or countries but to build a model rooted in the district’s own identity, resources, knowledge and aspirations.
“I do not want Keyi Panyor to become a smaller copy of Delhi, Singapore or anywhere else. I want Keyi Panyor to become the best possible Keyi Panyor,” he said.