A Sustainable Approach: Navigating through the Mishing Tribe’s Indigenous Knowledge and Disaster Management Strategies

Abstract

The Mishing tribe, a Sino-Tibetan community native to the north-eastern part of India, engages in a custom of floodplain farming that is flexible enough to adjust to the river’s unpredictable flow. The sustainability practices of the Mishing community amalgamate traditional knowledge with modern environmental techniques to create adaptive and ecologically resilient floating farms and agroforestry that capitalize on nutrient-rich silt deposits left by the river and further foster agricultural sustainability. This article researches the indigenous knowledge and modern flood management techniques of the Mishing tribe, illustrating the community’s employment of early warning systems, flood-resistant crop varieties, and community-based disaster management strategies. Another crucial engagement regards how such practices used to be operated autonomously, often without direct external intervention, and now offers useful pointers for larger environmental policies as they integrate with modern technology. This research also incorporates the architectural adaptations they made, such as bamboo-stilted chang ghar constructions that reduce flooding problems, sets an example for sustainable living in flood-prone regions, thereby adding to the contemporary discourse on flood management. With an interdisciplinary approach that combines historical analysis and environmental studies, this study assesses the relevance of traditional practices in contemporary contexts and their adaptability to changing climatic conditions. The significant contribution shall add to the sustainable development by showing how indigenous knowledge can work alongside contemporary innovations to construct a much richer environmental framework. The report also addresses climate change-related questions that are still a concern today and offers pathways for including Mishing agricultural and architectural knowledge in larger sustainable development initiatives. It highlights the need to retain Indigenous ecological knowledge in climate adaptation and resilience-building frameworks.