In Kuki society, the forest is not just a piece of land and wild animals are not just creatures living in it. The forest is our home, our history, our pharmacy, our market and our identity. For centuries, our forefathers lived inside the dense forest of Kukiland with deep respect for every tree, every bird and every animal. They took only what was needed for survival and never destroyed nature for greed. But today, that sacred relationship between man and nature is breaking down.
Understanding the Eco-System of Kukiland
An eco-system is a living network where forest, wild animals, birds, insects, soil, water and humans depend on each other. In Kukiland, this eco-system has worked perfectly for thousands of years. In our forest eco-system, every part has a duty:
- Producers: Big trees, bamboo, wild plants and grasses produce food and oxygen. They hold soil and bring rainfall.
- Consumers: Barking deer, wild goats, wild boars, squirrels, birds and insects eat plants and fruits and spread seeds to grow new forest.
- Pollinators & Cleaners: Bees, butterflies and hornbills pollinate our crops and wild fruits. Wild cats, eagles and owls control rats and pests that destroy our paddy. Vultures and beetles clean dead animals.
- Decomposers: Earthworms and fungi make soil fertile again.
This food chain – plant to deer to wild cat, fruit to bird to new tree – keeps the forest alive. When we kill one link, the whole chain breaks. If we kill all birds, seeds will not spread and new trees will not grow. If we kill bees, our crops will fail. If we kill wild animals, the forest will become silent and dead, even if it looks green from outside. This is what is happening in many hills of Kukiland today – green forest but no sound of birds, no footsteps of animals.
The forest of Kukiland also controls our water and climate eco-system. The forest canopy holds rainwater, feeds our springs and rivers throughout the year and prevents landslides. When we cut one big tree, we are cutting our own water pipeline.
Hunting Has Become Fashion, Not Survival in Kukiland
What is more painful is that hunting has become a fashion and a business instead of a necessity. Earlier, hunting was only for survival and had strict customary laws. Elders allowed hunting only in certain seasons and strictly forbade the killing of pregnant animals, young ones and mother birds sitting on eggs. But today, those traditional laws are completely ignored. People kill pregnant female deer, kill mother birds with eggs in their nests and sell wild meat openly in markets for money. Some even post photos of killed animals on social media to get likes. This is against our Christian values and our ancestral wisdom.
Protection of Wildlife Is Protection of Eco-System
We must understand that protection of wildlife is protection of the entire eco-system of Kukiland. If wildlife disappears, the forest will also die. A forest without wildlife is a dead forest. Therefore, protection of wildlife is not optional; it is compulsory for the survival of the eco-system and for the survival of Kuki society. We must ban the sale of wild meat in our markets and ban hunting with air guns and traps immediately.
CSOs Must Lead Awareness to Save Eco-System
Therefore, the time has come for our Civil Society Organizations to take the lead. Our top bodies like Kuki Inpi, Kuki Students Organisation, Kuki Women Union and all village chiefs and church leaders must conduct mass awareness on the protection of eco-system in every village.
This should not be just a one-day programme for formality. Every village in Kukiland should have a Wildlife and Eco-System Protection Committee with youth volunteers. Our schools must include chapters on local eco-system and food chain. Our churches must preach about protection of creation. Our youth clubs must guard the forest by rotation. We can start with simple steps: ban hunting for five years, ban cutting of green trees for commercial sale, and declare some forest areas as Community Reserved Forest where no hunting and no cutting will be allowed.
Protection of Forest Is Protection of Kukiland
Protection of forest is directly linked to our political future. Our land is our identity and our forest is the proof of our existence. If our forest is gone, our land will become barren and our claim over our ancestral land will become weak. But if our forest in Kukiland is green and alive with animals, it proves that this land has been protected and owned by us for generations.
There are successful models around us. In Churachandpur district, some villages have already banned hunting completely and within two to three years, wild animals have started coming back and the forest has become thick again. Villages that stopped hunting are now developing eco-tourism, bird watching and homestays. Our unemployed youth in Kukiland can become nature guides and earn money without destroying nature.
CSOs Must Act Now Before It Is Too Late
Finally, we must stop hunting and cutting of forest trees from today itself. Let us take a strong pledge: no more killing of deer, hornbills and other wild animals and no more cutting of big trees for sale. Let us teach our children to love birds and to plant trees instead of killing animals. If every Kuki family plants ten trees every year, we will have lakhs of new trees in five years.
Our eco-system is crying for help. If we protect the eco-system today, it will protect us tomorrow with water, air, food and beauty. I appeal to all CSOs and leaders of Kuki society to conduct awareness on protection of wild animals, forest and our fragile eco-system in every village of Kukiland before it is too late.
