PARO, 1 Sep: Arunachal Pradesh MLA Toko Tatung, representing the Yachuli Assembly constituency in Keyi Panyor district, on Tuesday presented the emerging development vision of one of India's youngest districts at the inaugural plenary of the 'Global Conscious Food Systems Summit 2026' in Paro, Bhutan.

The summit, jointly hosted by the Royal Government of Bhutan, the Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), brought together leaders, indigenous representatives, scientists and development practitioners.

Tatung became the first legislator from Arunachal to participate in the summit. He was a panellist in the high-level session titled 'Rising to the Moment: Igniting Consciousness to Address the Polycrisis', alongside Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and former UN Human Rights high commissioner; Mara Lisa Arizaga of the UN Human Rights office; Chizuru Aoki of the Global Environment Facility; and spiritual leader Mata Amritanandamayi through video message.

The larger high-level segment featured Ban Ki-moon, eighth secretary-general of the United Nations; Bhutan's Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay, and Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Dr Harini Amarasuriya, among participants from 65 countries.

Tatung used the platform to present the 'Keyi Panyor Mission Plan 2040 (KPMP 2040)', a long-term district development framework moving beyond annual schemes and five-year electoral cycles. Formally launched on 15 August, 2026, KPMP 2040 covers 20 priorities, including education, health, agriculture, agroecology, biodiversity, forests, water, livelihoods, women, youths, culture, renewable energy, tourism, infrastructure, and local institutions.

Speaking as a member of the Nyishi community, Tatung placed indigenous knowledge at the centre of his intervention.

"Wisdom comes from listening to the people, and to the traditional ecological wisdom of indigenous communities," he said.

He argued that science and community knowledge must work together. "Our scientists have knowledge. Our farmers also have knowledge. Our universities have knowledge. Our grandmothers also have knowledge. The future has to be built when these forms of knowledge sit at the same table," Tatung said.

Linking indigenous ecological knowledge to food systems and climate justice, Tatung said, "Food begins with soil. It needs water. It depends upon forests and biodiversity. It carries the knowledge of our ancestors. It determines the nutrition of our children. It creates livelihoods. It carries our culture."

"When a flood enters a village, climate change is no longer an international negotiation. It is somebody's field, somebody's house, somebody's livestock, somebody's stored seed, somebody's entire year of work," he said, stressing that communities contributing the least to global warming often face its sharpest consequences.

A central element of the Keyi Panyor experiment is 'bio-happiness', associated with the vision of Dr MS Swaminathan. Keyi Panyor is being developed as India's first bio-happy district, with the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) and other partners, linking biodiversity conservation with nutrition, livelihoods and human wellbeing.

"Conservation must also produce dignity. Agroecology must also produce livelihoods. Local food must also produce good nutrition. Forests must remain standing, but communities who protect those forests must also prosper," Tatung said. "Not biodiversity protected from people, but biodiversity protected with people, and working for their wellbeing," he added.

KPMP 2040 is already being translated into programmes. Under the 'Comprehensive Action Plan for Education (CAPE)', more than 90 per cent of government school teachers participated in district-wide cluster workshops, alongside work with anganwadi workers on early childhood education and nutrition.

In agriculture and ecology, Keyi Panyor is working with the MSSRF and the Participatory Action Research Coalition of India (PARCI) on natural agriculture, agro-biodiversity conservation, ecological livelihoods and community-based planning.

Tatung said the ultimate test of KPMP 2040 is what future generations inherit. Recalling an elderly farmer who asked him, "What are you going to leave for our grandchildren?" he said the question remains central to the mission's plan.

"An MLA gets five years. A child born today may live for eighty or ninety years. A forest may take hundreds of years to become what it is. So why should our idea of development have a five-year horizon?" he said.

Tatung added: "I may or may not be in politics in 2040. That is irrelevant. KPMP cannot belong to Toko Tatung. It has to belong to Keyi Panyor."

Concluding his statement, Tatung said: "I do not want Keyi Panyor to become a smaller copy of Delhi, Singapore or anywhere else. I want Keyi Panyor to become the best possible Keyi Panyor."