Song, S-Y., Koo, Y-M. and Macer, D.R.J. (Eds.) - Asian Bioethics in the 21st Century, pp. 320-326. Eubios Ethics Institute (2003) 10.3. Environmental Ethics in the Culture of Meeteis from North East India - L. Jeetendro Singh, N. Biraj Singh and Abhik Gupta* *Email: abhik.eco@gmail.com Dept. of Ecology, Assam University, Silchar - 788011, Assam, India Introduction It is now increasingly being recognized that nature and its rich biodiversity still support, and in turn, are maintained by a great diversity of ecosystem people and their cultures the world over (Gadgil, 1995; McNeely, 1995). The hunter-gatherers and shifting cultivators throughout the world typically possessed a 'weltanschauung' in which man is considered an integral part of the ecosystem. Such a worldview does not profess the concept of man-nature dualism, as emphasized in the western philosophical thoughts of Descartes, Bacon, Liebnitz, and many others. The 'organic cosmology' of the indigenous societies shaped an ecological ethic that is undermined by western science and market-oriented culture (Merchant, 1980; Nelson, 1993). Nevertheless, those indigenous cultures that are still surviving retain their traditional ecological ethic, which now seems to have profound conservation implications (Gadgil and Guha, 1992). The Northeastern region of India is home to a myriad tribal and other ethnic groups. Large sections of these communities can be still said to attain their livelihood by exploiting their biomass resources as 'ecosystem people' (Dasmann, 1988; Gadgil, 1995). Such communities characteristically meet a substantial proportion of their