ABSTRACT
The North Eastern (NE) region of India represented by seven Indian states, viz. Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura is a ‘Global Biodiversity Hotspot’ and represents one of the highest biodiversity of the Indian subcontinent. The region is often referred to as the Seven Sisters and Sikkim has also now been included in North eastern states. It is ecologically represented by the Eastern Himalayan biome and is rich in a number of endemic flora and fauna endowed with a rich biodiversity. Arunachal Pradesh popularly called as “Land of Rising Sun”, falls under a geographical coordinates of 26°28’ to 29°30’ North Latitude and 90°30’ to 97°30’ East Latitude spreading over a geographical area of 83,743 sq. km. It shares borders with Assam and Nagaland in the South, Tibet (China) in the North and North East, Bhutan in the West and Myanmar in the East. The state being primarily a hilly tract is nestled in the foothills of Himalayas situated on the Great Eastern Himalayan Mountain Range and is recognized as the 12th Global Biodiversity Hotspots. It covers a vast diversity of flora and fauna making it one of the richest biotic province of the Republic of India. Parallel with this, nature has exceedingly endowed the state with rich bio-resources along with the second largest area under forest cover, i.e., the total area of 68,045 sq.km in the whole of India after Madhya Pradesh (Anonymous 2008).
