Video | Celebrating local knowledge in the face of ecological destruction

The Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya is spearheading an interactive Museum Movement in India, to celebrate the ‘simultaneous validity’ of various valuable cultural patterns evolved over thousands of years. The Organization is working for national integration, and promotes research and training and inter-institutional networking for Salvage and revitalization of vanishing but valuable cultural traditions and highlights the unity and diversity; and organizes exhibitions to present an integrated story of biological evolutions and variations. The IGRMS, through its exhibitions and salvage activities, demonstrates the aesthetic qualities of India’s traditional life styles; local knowledge and mores cherished for thousands of years, and caution the people against unprecedented destruction of ecology, environment, local values, customs etc. There is a paradigm shift in museum education process and IGRMS envisages a definite role for itself in this process.

Source: IGRMS: World Environment day- June, 2011- Bastar band : Performing Art presentation
Address : https://youtu.be/1kjPS3rNj-M
Date Visited: 5 March 2024

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“We must consider the environmental dimension of justice now. The challenge of climate change is so enormous that it forces us to redefine ‘rights’.” – Droupadi Murmu | Speeches by the President of India | United Nations on climate change >>

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Facts and figures: India’s biological, cultural and geographic diversity

Spread over 3,287,240 km2 and despite a total human population of over 1,210,000,000, India represents a wide spectrum of biological, cultural and geographic diversity. It has been identified as one of the top 12 global biodiversity hotspots and has 91 eco-cultural zones inhabited by 4,635 ethnic communities. India also has amongst the largest indigenous/tribal population, constituting 8.08% of the country’s population, representing 461 tribes. The term ‘Indigenous Peoples’ is not officially recognized in the country, instead the Constitution of India uses the term ‘Scheduled Tribes’. The total forest cover is estimated to be approximately 20% of the total area of the country. About 1,70,379 villages with a population of 10,674,334 inhabit areas in close proximity of forests.

Source: RECOGNITION AND SUPPORT OF ICCAs IN INDIA by Neema Pathak Broome and Tushar Dash, p. 4 | PDF-Repository
URL: https://kalpavriksh.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/IndiaICCARecognition_Final_SEPT2012-as-published.pdf
Date Visited: 10 March 2025

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