CORRESPONDENCE CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 105, NO. 8, 25 OCTOBER 2013 1037 Figure 1. a, Mixed cultivation of taro and paddy in jhum. b, Leaves and petioles. c, Marketing of corm. (Figure 1 b and c) are used for prepara- tion of many ethnic foods, such as anishi, tungkungsui, tungrhak, tunguhok, pha- lougan, phaloou, etc. The leaves, petioles and damaged tubers are fed to the pigs after cooking with local edible grasses. As of now, little or no attention has been given for the conservation of taro in the region. This has resulted in loss of many valuable genetic resources. The continuous loss of genetic diversity might be attributed to Phytophthora leaf blight, corm borer, introduction of high- yielding varieties, changing food habits of the youth, practice of shifting cultiva- tion and such other factors. Therefore, urgent measures need to be initiated for collection, characterization, documenta- tion and conservation of these valuable germplasm, either ex situ or in situ. To begin with, ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Nagaland Centre has initi- ated collection, characterization and documentation of these vast germplasms under a project approved by the Protec- tion of Plant Varieties and Farmer’s Right Authority, New Delhi. 1. Statistical Hand Book of Nagaland, Gov- ernment of Nagaland, 2011. 2. Rao, R. V., Matthews, P. J., Eyzaguirre, P. B. and Hunter, D., In The Global Diversity of Taro: Ethnobotany and Conservation, Biodiversity International, Rome, 2010, pp. 1–5. 3. Bose, T. K., Kabir, J., Maity, T. K., Par- thasarathy, V. A. and Som, M. G., Vegeta- ble Crops, 2003, 2, 413–442. 4. Bradburry, J. H. and Holloway, W. D., Chemistry of tropical root crops: Signifi- cance for nutrition and agriculture in the Pacific, ACIAR Monograph No. 6, ACIAR, Canberra, 1998, p. 201. A. THIRUGNANAVEL 1, * BIDYUT C. DEKA 1 LILY RANGNAMEI 1 MARTHA CHAKRUNO 2 1 ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Nagaland Centre, Jharnapani 797 106, India 2 KVK Aboi, Mon District, India *e-mail: lotus.thiru@gmail.com Climate change and high-altitude wetlands of Arunachal Pradesh The high-altitude wetlands (HAWs) are an important category of natural wetlands found mainly in the higher reaches of the Himalayas. HAW is a generic term to de- scribe areas of swamp, marsh, meadow, fen, peat-land or water bodies located at an altitude higher than 3000 m amsl, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or saline. In general, HAWs are areas located at alti- tudes between the continuous natural forest border and the permanent snow- line 1 (Figure 1). Arunachal Pradesh is ranked second in India after Jammu & Kashmir with 1672 HAWs covering a total area of 11,864 ha, accounting for about 7.6% of total wetland area of the state. Most of the wetlands are small in size (below 10 ha), there are no large-sized wetlands (above 500 ha) in the state. Only three wetlands having an area of 100–500 ha have been observed 2 . However, very little information is available for most of these wetlands due to the remoteness, harsh climatic condition and inaccessibil- ity of the terrain of the region. None of the HAWs of the state is considered un- der the Ramsar site. The HAWs of Arunachal Pradesh play a significant role in maintaining hydro- logical and ecological balance in the upstream and downstream regions. They are the source of many major rivers like Tawangchu, Nyamjangchu, Kameng, Subansiri, Siang, Dibang and Lohit, all important tributaries of the Brahmapu- tra 3 . They support rich diversity of gymnosperms, rhododendrons and rare medicinal plants species and provide suitable habitat for rare and threatened high-altitude fauna like red panda (Ailu- rus fulgens), takin (Budorcas taxicolor), Chinese goral (Nemorhaedus griseus), red goral (Naemorhedus baileyi), wild dog (Cuon alpinus), snow leopard (Pan- thera uncia) and musk deer (Moschus chrysogaster) 4 . HAWs are considered as sacred by the Buddhist community, espe- cially in Tawang, West Kameng, West Siang and Lohit districts of Arunachal Pradesh. They are also considered as car- bon sinks. The Indian Himalayan Region (IHR) is sensitive to climate change. According to the Indian Network for Climate Change Assessment report, the annual mean surface air temperature is projected to in- crease from 0.9° ± 0.6°C to 2.6° ± 0.7°C