ABSTRACT:
Gond and Halba living in forest villages of Bastar region, the heartland of tribal world are treated as burning Eamples of sustainable commmunities of the world. The endogenous mechanism of natural resource management upheld by these tribes since time immemorial has contributed towards sustainahle use of natural resources; preserving gene pool of housands varieties of traditional rice species and cquilibrium between cultural diversity and genetic diversity in this region This paper is an attempt to explain how these communities have significantly contributed towards integrating intrinsic value ef biological diversity, with genctic, social, econoomic, cultural, recreational, and aesthetic values of their society It explains hicultural dimensions of traditional ecological knowledge, innovations and practices these tribes in ensuring conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. This study is based on anthropological fieldwork with administration of focus group liscussion, interview with shamans, community elites, and case studies. The primary data was supplemented by secondary data through research synthesis. The community based protocols strictly ensure components of benefit sharing, equitable fistribution of resources, sustainable life style through sustainable use of natural resources, peaceful coexistence of different ethnic communities in the region, dissemination of indigenous knowledge and technology through earth festival communally celebrated by group of villages together. All these protocols are pronounced in Convention on Biological Diversity: (CBD) Declaration and resolutions of United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development ("Rio+20", Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 20-22 June 2012)