In March 2025, I had the great privilege of attending North East Network’s (NEN) 16th Annual Biodiversity Festival in Chizami, Nagaland. The event featured a rich array of lectures, performances, and exhibitions, along with pop-up market stands showcasing traditional, locally made handicrafts and edible goods. Through these exhibits and presentations, NEN Nagaland and the Chizami community highlighted the diverse livelihood programs they have initiated that actively cultivate and sustain biodiversity in the region.
At the heart of this work is the goal of empowering local women—the custodians of biodiversity—to thrive.
The festival was both a celebration of NEN’s three-decade journey in Nagaland—during which the Chizami community and the local ecosystem have flourished—and a call to sustain and strengthen action. Speakers urged guests and the community to recognize the dire stakes of planetary biodiversity loss and the unfolding climate crisis. NEN’s ongoing work, in both praxis and principle, was situated as far more than aspirational or confined to notions of small scale. Their programs serve as a means to “nurture health, well-being, and resilience” and “sustain our future together”—the theme of this year’s conference.
NEN is primarily a feminist, women’s rights organization working throughout Northeast India. Its programs aim to address disparities in both entitlements and opportunities for women from diverse backgrounds and identities. A core insight—and a driving force behind their success in strengthening local communities as a whole—is their recognition of the inextricable link between cultivating, restoring, and protecting ecosystems and securing social and economic justice for women.
NEN’s programs were designed with the understanding that women’s rights, environmental conservation, and public health are interconnected goals. None can be pursued in isolation. Programs that restore local ecosystems also safeguard livelihood pathways, particularly for rural and tribal women. Likewise, initiatives that support nature-based livelihoods for women foster sustainable practices in production and consumption, strengthening broader community well-being.
In practice, their work serves as an exemplary model for organizations aiming to restore ecosystems, advance gender justice, and foster economic resilience at the grassroots level.
Programs and Interventions
The following initiatives, organized by sector and theme, reflect NEN Nagaland’s comprehensive, context-specific approach to women’s empowerment—one that centers biodiversity as both a foundation and a focus. Each initiative was brought to life through vibrant displays and moving speeches by esteemed guests at the festival.
I. Agroecology and Food Sovereignty Initiatives
NEN Nagaland’s most fundamental biodiversity initiatives are those centered around food cultivation. Agriculture is one of the most tangible demonstrations of human dependence on biodiversity, as farming necessitates continuous interaction with soil, pollinators, plants, and animals.
There is a growing body of scientific and academic evidence underscoring the crucial role that traditional indigenous and agroecological farming practices play in preserving seed diversity, enriching the microbial health of soil, and sustaining pollinator populations—processes that contribute to broader ecosystem restoration. Still, these benefits have long been acknowledged and are most vividly reflected in the generational and experiential knowledge of the communities practicing them. This is certainly true for the people of Chizami.
Crucially, with women at the forefront of agricultural livelihoods in the Northeast, NEN’s agroecological farming programs serve as direct pathways to improve women’s socioeconomic security, autonomy, and agency.
Seed Banks and Exchanges
NEN prioritizes efforts to ensure that female farmers and their communities retain control over their seeds, recognizing seed sovereignty as the foundation of food security, ecological resilience, and cultural continuity.
This vision is realized both through the everyday practice of saving and sharing seeds via the Chizami Seed Bank, as well as through designated, structured seed exchanges. One of the most powerful moments of the festival was the formal seed exchange among representatives of various tribes in the region. A group of female farmers—spanning eight villages from five communities—presented baskets of their carefully saved native seeds. Each farmer stepped forward to share knowledge about the crop cycles, cooking techniques, and nutritional benefits of their respective seed varieties before exchanging baskets with a counterpart from another tribe. Though held in a public setting, the exchange felt deeply intimate—an act of preserving history, recipes, and intergenerational wisdom while also fostering meaningful relationships and trust among communities. In this way, seed exchanges serve not only as practical tools of biodiversity conservation but also as powerful expressions of a shared indigenous identity.
Speakers also emphasized that when farmers lose control of their seeds, they lose autonomy over their agricultural practices and diets. This ultimately endangers their way of life. Seed saving and exchanging thus stand as acts of resistance against commodification, corporate capture, and the privatization of seed, a foundational element of life itself. Speakers drew sharp contrasts with the efforts by transnational agribusiness firms to patent seed varieties and bind farmers in contracts that create dependency on genetically modified seeds, engineered to require intensive chemical inputs. Reclaiming and protecting heirloom crops was framed as both an assertion of community sovereignty and a means to exercise environmental stewardship.
For the female farmers of Chizami—the region’s traditional seed keepers, both historically and today—access to indigenous seed varieties is essential for preserving their autonomy as cultivators. In other words, seed saving ensures that they maintain control over the agricultural practices that shape their lands.
It was affirmed as vital to safeguarding a thriving, regenerative, and localized food system for future generations in Chizami—an act framed as both radical and liberatory.
Millet Cultivation and Millet Festivals
Following the same principles that guide their seed sovereignty initiatives, NEN actively promotes the cultivation of millet. They uphold millets as both a vital food source and an integral part of their cultural identity.
One of their ongoing programs is the annual Millet Festival, a structured gathering that provides women farmers with a platform to discuss and learn about the multifaceted benefits of millet cultivation, emerging value-added processes, and aligned policy advocacy agendas.
In past years, key insights have included the need for improved infrastructure (e.g., better roads to millet fields) and the potential of technology to ease post-harvest processing. These gatherings offer women millet farmers the opportunity to share knowledge, strategize on how to overcome current cultivation challenges, and build new relationships.
The slogan “Millet rights are women’s rights” was prominently featured at one of the festival’s exhibits—a statement that encapsulates the organization’s belief that preserving agro-biodiversity and indigenous agriculture is inherently tied to the health and well-being of women.
Despite government schemes that prioritize the production of non-native cash crops (such as genetically modified wheat and rice varieties) and the use of intensive chemical inputs, NEN Nagaland has actively worked to ensure that women farmers have continued access to traditional millet seeds.
Chizami also conducts educational awareness programs to help local consumers and young people realize the benefits—and, in turn, the importance—of millet cultivation. They highlight empirical, data-driven research showing that these grains require minimal inputs, thrive in arid conditions, and enrich soil health, making them especially well-suited to the challenges of climate change. They also emphasize how growing millets without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides reduces both the financial and health burdens on farming households.
NEN further underscores how these grains have long been cultivated in, and are native to, the region. Beyond nutritional value, they emphasize the ceremonial, medicinal, and ecological significance of millets for indigenous communities. NEN frequently collaborates with researchers and academics to promote these multifaceted benefits of millet cultivation in advocacy campaigns targeting relevant government officials and ministries.
Food Sovereignty Cradle
All efforts to safeguard and promote the use of native seeds, crops, and wild edibles are both symbolically and tangibly realized in the creation of Chizami’s Food Sovereignty Cradle. This newly established space will serve as a center for educating future generations, farmers, and visitors about the critical role of food sovereignty and the traditional knowledge that sustains it.
The Cradle was inaugurated at the festival by two village elders, honoring the transmission of knowledge and the collective responsibility to preserve traditions that ensure food security and ecological resilience. Following the inaugural address, festival attendees were invited to explore the exhibits inside.
Various sections demonstrated how locally grown crops and forest resources, such as cotton and bamboo, are transformed into essential goods like clothing, baskets, and household items. Baskets of seeds, hanging dried millets, and potted plants were also displayed alongside informational panels and diagrams that further illustrate the uses and cultural significance of these harvests. The space serves as a living repository of regional staples such as tubers and maize.
The Cradle itself was also constructed using indigenous building techniques and locally sourced natural materials, including compacted mud, earthen clay, straw, and woven roofing.
The launch celebrated all these components, and it now stands as both a testament to Chizami’s commitment to food sovereignty and as a dynamic educational hub. It is a lasting symbol of the community’s agricultural expertise, resilience, and dedication to ecological stewardship.
II. Education and Cultural Preservation Initiatives
Craftsmanship, storytelling, and intergenerational exchange also serve as vital links between communities and their surrounding ecosystems. For women in particular, maintaining ecologically rooted artisanal livelihoods and preparing younger generations to carry forward these traditions are not only acts of cultural preservation but also critical pathways to achieving greater gender equity.
NEN Nagaland’s programs, such as Chizami Weaves and their environmentally focused youth education initiatives, play a crucial role in safeguarding both Chizami’s heritage and the region’s biodiversity.
Chizami Weaves & Traditional Craftsmanship
Chizami Weaves began in 2008 as a grassroots initiative aimed at supporting women artisans in Nagaland. Over the past decade, it has expanded to engage 480–600 artisans annually across 16 villages in Phek District, reaching a total of over 1,000 craftswomen. In 2017, NEN formally registered Chizami Weaves as a Nenterprise, a public charitable trust focused on economic activities for social impact rather than profit. In the brand’s own words, it is “dedicated to promoting and preserving the unique textile tradition of Nagaland while ensuring sustainable livelihoods for economically marginalized women.”
While the program was designed with the objective of creating economic opportunities through traditional art forms, Chizami Weaves also demonstrates how livelihood resilience and ecological stewardship can be mutually reinforcing. Chizami Weaves’ practices include the use of organic cotton and organic dyes, as well as the preservation of traditional patterns and weaving techniques, skills passed down through generations. It was evident at the festival that biodiversity is not merely considered a secondary benefit or an isolated goal of the weavers, weighed against livelihood improvements, but rather, is integral to the entire process.
These weaving traditions are also viable pathways for women to generate income, the most fundamental aspect of this initiative. The social enterprise operates under a decentralized production model, enabling artisans to work from home at their own pace. This allows them to balance weaving with farming and other personal, social, and domestic responsibilities. The Nenterprise approach also fosters both economic independence and creative agency. Artisans collaborate in the design process, working with the Nenterprise team to craft motifs and products, while Nenterprise facilitates material supply, skill-building, and access to larger markets. Nenterprise further assists artisans in securing registration cards, opening formal bank accounts, obtaining Aadhaar identification, and accessing healthcare, all of which are critical components of livelihood resilience and economic stability.
Programs that improve women’s financial stability reduce the economic pressures that might otherwise lead them to engage in environmentally degrading activities. Empirical research has also shown that when women have control over economic resources, they are more likely to reinvest in community well-being and adopt adaptive strategies for climate resilience (UN Women, 2022). Chizami Weaves embodies NEN’s commitment to fostering ethical economies rooted in cultural and environmental well-being, principally through women’s economic inclusion.
Youth Workshops: Cultivating the Next Generation of Biodiversity Stewards
NEN Nagaland also hosts three-day leadership development workshops for young people. The program immerses participants in experiential learning activities, focusing on the principles and practices of agroecology, environmental conservation, and developing and protecting livelihood pathways that prioritize sustaining biodiversity. In these intensive programs, students engage in various sessions covering topics such as no-till farming, agroforestry, community-based tourism, bamboo biochar production, and ecotourism enterprise development. The goal is for participants to leave eager to reinvest in their communities and foster ecologically conscientious enterprises.
Similarly, the annual Farm Schools program addresses the growing disconnect between youth and their cultural and ecological heritage. Designed to foster deeper engagement with sustainable farming, the program integrates nature walks focused on biodiversity identification and conservation, as well as hands-on farming tasks such as paddy transplantation, vermi-composting, soilless nursery management, and integrated pest management. Storytelling sessions led by village elders further enrich the experience by sharing traditional ecological knowledge, combining practical skills and emotional and interpersonal learning. For many urban-based youth in the Northeast, these immersive experiences serve as profound, eye-opening journeys, reinforcing thematic discussions through direct engagement with the land. These programs also challenge systemic inequities that marginalize women, equipping young women with the skills needed to assume leadership roles in ecological stewardship and advocate for their rights within their communities.
A Gendered Lens: The Roots of Biodiversity Protection and Restoration Lie in the Soil Gender Justice
While NEN is at the forefront of programs that promote food sovereignty, environmental education, and biodiversity restoration in the Northeast, it must be understood as a feminist, women’s rights organization. This is crucial to fully appreciating the essence of its programs and transformative potential.
NEN initiated its work in Chizami over two decades ago with the recognition of the critical role of women as both stewards and beneficiaries of biodiversity. Women—particularly those who directly engage with the land and natural ecosystems at the grassroots level—are on the frontlines of both the climate crisis and biodiversity loss. Thus, for NEN, protecting biodiversity is not merely a conservation issue; it is central to gender justice.
In addition to the aforementioned initiatives, NEN also facilitates critical discussion on the often-overlooked intersections between climate change, migration, and gender-based violence (GBV). These themes were briefly addressed during the festival and also demand further attention from policymakers and civil society actors alike.
According to UN Women, environmental degradation and climate-related resource scarcity can increase women’s vulnerability to harassment, sexual violence, and trafficking, as they are often forced to migrate and explore new livelihood pathways to mitigate resource shortages. The erosion of traditional livelihoods—such as farming, fishing, and foraging—also diminishes women’s economic independence, often forcing them into exploitative labor or unsafe migration pathways. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) supports these findings, showing that forced migration often results in women and girls being pushed into overcrowded refugee camps or informal settlements. Weak infrastructure and limited governance are associated with increased risks of domestic violence and child trafficking. The IOM asserts that climate-induced displacement will exacerbate these risks. Biodiversity loss further exacerbates this crisis by dismantling traditional knowledge systems and food sovereignty, depriving indigenous and rural women of their means of survival and their roles as knowledge keepers. Additionally, gendered responsibilities tied to securing water and food at the household level become increasingly arduous in the face of climate-induced droughts, floods, extreme weather events, and habitat destruction.
In Northeast India—particularly in Nagaland and Manipur—communities have endured prolonged periods of ethnic conflict, during which women’s suffering, particularly sexual violence, has too often been overlooked.
The displacement and exploitation caused by environmental degradation underscore the urgency of centering women—particularly indigenous women—in conservation and climate resilience efforts. As primary caretakers of biodiversity, their inclusion in decision-making processes is imperative for developing viable solutions to these global challenges, especially as gender disparities persist in spaces of concentrated economic or political power. These key linkages between climate change, biodiversity loss, and GBV reinforce why NEN frames planetary collapse as a feminist issue.
Similarly, NEN upholds that any program or initiative that treats the natural environment as expendable cannot provide a sustainable or meaningful livelihood alternative for women. Land is not merely a physical asset; it is deeply tied to identity, culture, and self-determination, particularly for indigenous women. Just as undermining and overlooking women’s expertise and their reliance on healthy, biodiverse ecosystems for their livelihoods and well-being is unjust and short-sighted, failing to prioritize biodiversity preservation undermines women’s ability to maintain their sovereignty, dignity, and health in the long term and for future generations.
Drawing from these insights, NEN challenges the status quo that treats gender, environmental, climate, and economic justice as isolated or merely complementary objectives. Its commitment to addressing these deep interconnections is reflected in the holistic design of its programs.
Each initiative—ranging from farmer field schools and Chizami Weaves to millet festivals and seed banks—serves as an individual case study in climate resilience. However, their combined impact exemplifies true systems change. These strategies are driven by women who are reclaiming and safeguarding the ecological well-being of their communities.
Reflection on the Experience
Put simply, the festival was immensely inspiring. I was able to briefly witness the spirit of Chizami—alive in the speeches, songs, and the launch of NEN Nagaland’s Food Sovereignty Cradle. Sharing in the nourishing, community-cooked meals, which featured native crop varieties and wild edibles from the surrounding villages, provided a lived experience that honored the region’s agrobiodiversity.
I had the opportunity to speak with NEN’s senior leadership and learn more about the organization’s thirty-year journey. They shared their efforts to prioritize women farmers and their philosophy of learning with communities, as well as their orientation towards justice. The farmers and weavers themselves further reinforced this. Listening to their personal transformations through NEN programming was deeply moving. Their stories echoed a greater sense of agency and underscored their central role in creating local solutions to economic, environmental, and social challenges. It was evident that NEN has positioned itself as a genuine partner in strengthening the autonomy of women in Chizami, rather than a knowledge broker or paternalistic organization.
I was also struck by the organization’s willingness to speak boldly about the need for a paradigm shift. NEN identifies how land theft, racism, classism, casteism, and patriarchy are systematically embedded within extractive economic systems, inseparable from their colonial legacies. These interconnected forms of oppression have historically degraded ecosystems and undermined smallholder livelihoods, manifesting in ongoing social and environmental injustice, particularly disrupting indigenous tribal communities. NEN was unafraid to name the threat that corruption, corporate capture of governance, and imperialist trade policies pose in driving ever-expanding, industrialized, waste-dependent industries, and most deleteriously undermining food sovereignty. The organization exhibited a rare integrity in its guiding philosophy, principles, and practices, which is often inhibited in the nonprofit sector. NEN appeared unfazed by the potential conflicting interests of private or public funders, demonstrating that, above all else, they are committed to moving beyond rhetoric into tangible action.
By situating ecological justice and biodiversity preservation as inseparable from gender equity and women’s empowerment, the organization takes part in a paradigm shift away from viewing various sustainable development goals as separate spheres or even parallel objectives. Their work strives to create well-being across all parameters: quality education, essential social services, climate-resilient infrastructure, and avenues for storytelling and cultural expression, with women at the forefront, leading this transformation.
For this reason, many attendees of the festival left with a renewed sense of hope and motivation to develop networks of care. Although speakers did not shy away from issuing an urgent call to action and identifying the systemic threats facing future generations, the atmosphere was one of celebration. The solutions presented in Chizami—rooted in principles of justice, collectivism, and preserving biodiversity—offered a model for the path forward.
NEN’s multifaceted programs showcase how rural communities can meet their basic needs and build localized economies tailored to their specific contexts. For practitioners in the development sector or those committed to aligned goals of food sovereignty, reducing income inequality, and protecting the living world, NEN’s work warrants deep exploration. It affirms that true expertise, knowledge, and restoration are rooted at the grassroots level.
I left feeling that the women of Chizami are leading a quiet revolution—preserving and protecting all that is sacred, life-sustaining, and essential for the future.
