Institute at Brown for Environment and Society

It has been estimated by India’s Central Silk Board that by the year 2036, the rare Muga silkworm (Antheraea Assama) endemic to Northeast India, will be extinct as host plants on a species level degenerate while traditional rearing methods and reeling technology increasingly become ineffectual. Som plantations (Persea bombycina) —the host plant for the prized Muga silkworms of Assam—have long been recognized as ‘protected evergreens’ in these last remaining silk plantations of the region. My research examines a small-scale industry witnessing a commodity revitalization model—sustainable scaling up of production— that is entrepreneurially driven and government-supported in the face of a rapidly changing ecology.