Living Root Bridges, found in over 70 villages in Meghalaya highlighting the socio-cultural, social and botanical links between people and nature, has been included in the tentative list of World Heritage sites of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).
Villagers grew the living root bridges by training the ‘ficus elastica’ tree on both sides of water bodies and over a period of about 10 to 15 years where the roots form the bridge.
At present, there are about 100 known living root bridges spread across 72 villages in the state.
Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India Prof K Vijay Raghavan said that the living root bridges of Meghalaya which highlights the socio-cultural, social and botanical links between people and nature is well-deserving of the tag of UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Last year, a National Convention on the root bridges was held here where scientists presented their findings of unique species of orchids, amphibians, and mammals which can be found on these root bridges.