Bio Resources & Sustainable Livelihoods

In 2018, the Balipara Foundation, in partnership with ATREE and supported by the Department of Biotechnology embarked on a mission to document bioresources in the wild and being used among communities in Assam. The project aims to examine bioresource-based livelihoods and develop adequate institutional and policy response to mitigate the negative impacts of global environmental change, thus ushering the region into new bioeconomy.

One of the key objectives of the project is to conduct a systematic, quantitative inventory of the distribution and diversity of flowering plants and biological resources in Upper and Lower Assam through grid-based sampling. The study also attempts to identify biological resources used by local communities, including wild relatives crop plants in Upper and Lower Assam region. The study is principally being undertaken in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam, with a target to encompass major ethnic communities (Bodo, Karbi, Dimasa, Rabha, Ahom, Mishing, to name a few).