Regional network invites community organisations and traditional village bodies to join
The Consortium of Landscape Alliances for Nature Stewardship (CLANS) was formally launched following a two-day regional conference at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG), where delegates adopted eight principles on community-led landscape governance and approved the drafting and finalisation of the Guwahati Declaration.
Held on November 2 and 3 under the theme “Viksit Bharat 2047: Land, Customary Institutions and Sustainable Future in NE India”, the regional meet was organised under the aegis of the India Land and Development Conference (ILDC), endorsed by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (MDoNER), and hosted by IIT Guwahati’s School of Agro and Rural Technology (SART).
The conference brought together traditional village chiefs, Rangbah Shnongs, members of autonomous councils, community elders, women farmers, indigenous youth, grassroots practitioners and academic researchers from across the northeastern hill states.
Deliberations focused on integrating customary institutions and practices with statutory frameworks across four areas: customary land tenure and plural legal systems; rotational jhum cultivation as an agroecological commons; geospatial technologies and community data sovereignty; and nature markets alongside community-led monitoring, reporting and verification.
An exhibition held alongside the conference showcased indigenous seeds, traditional weaving, handloom products and local agri-food items, highlighting the region’s cultural and agricultural heritage.
The launch of CLANS marks an effort to bring together customary institutions, grassroots stewardship groups and community federations across Northeast India to place customary land rights, traditional knowledge and community-led ecological management at the centre of regional development.
The alliance has invited community organisations, traditional village bodies, women’s groups and civil society partners to join the network. Further information is available at www.clans.life.
The conference unanimously adopted the eight Guwahati Principles, establishing a common framework for mountain land governance. The principles call for safeguarding customary rights, self-governance and constitutional protections under the Sixth Schedule and Article 371; recognising community-led conservation without weakening customary authority; and ensuring free, prior and informed consent through village assemblies before surveys or resource allocation.
They also call for recognising ancestral community lands as customary commons rather than unclassified or ownerless state property, supporting rotational farming and fallows as agroecological systems, and protecting mountain springs and recharge zones through customary agreements.
The remaining principles emphasise community control over geospatial data, drone maps and land records, alongside stronger roles for women farmers and youth in governance and benefit-sharing across generations.
Building on these principles, delegates approved the drafting and finalisation of the Guwahati Declaration, which is intended to guide future policy engagement, the development of grassroots toolkits and landscape-level action.
CLANS is a regional collective focused on community-led landscape governance, protection of customary land tenure and agroecological resilience across Northeast India.
