Meghalaya moves to protect living root bridges with heritage law changes

Meghalaya's cabinet has approved crucial amendments to the state's Heritage Act as part of efforts to secure UNESCO World Heritage status for the region's famous living root bridges.

The amendments to the Meghalaya Heritage Act 2012 introduce new provisions specifically designed to protect "Living Heritage" sites, including the ancient root bridge structures that have become synonymous with the northeastern state's cultural identity.

Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma announced the decision, explaining the strategic importance of the legal changes. "This is being done in line with our submission to the UNESCO for the Living Root Bridges to be declared as a world heritage site and for us to be able to strengthen our case further, we are amending the Act to incorporate provisions that would make Living Heritage like the Living Root Bridge also part of what we also consider as heritage," he stated.

The amendments address concerns about land rights by explicitly excluding land acquisition requirements for Living Heritage sites. This approach aims to preserve traditional community land ownership systems that have existed for generations.

"The amendment also proposes to exclude the land acquisition for Living Heritage under the Act so as not to effect the traditional existing Community land holding system. Community Involvement is therefore proposed through Community Representatives at various levels," Sangma added.

In a separate development, the cabinet also approved the establishment of a State Seed Certification Agency to boost agricultural self-reliance. The new agency will handle seed certification processes locally, ensuring farmers have access to quality certified seeds.

"Cabinet has approved the proposed establishment of the State Seed Certification Agency in Meghalaya. This is being done to make the State self-reliant in matters of Seed Certification in order to ensure production, sale and distribution of certified/quality seeds to farmers for achieving better and higher yields of agricultural produce," the Chief Minister noted.

The living root bridges, created by training rubber tree roots across streams and rivers, represent centuries of indigenous engineering knowledge and have attracted international attention as unique examples of sustainable architecture.