Living Root Bridges of Meghalaya included tentative list of World Heritage Sites

‘Jingkieng Jri or Living Root Bridge’ has been included in the tentative list of World Heritage Sites of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

‘Jingkieng Jri or Living Root Bridge’, 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 Organisation (UNESCO).

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Villagers grow the living root bridges by training the ‘ficus elastica’ tree on both sides of water bodies 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. Villagers, (especially Khasi and Jaintia tribal communities) build and maintain these bridges from the past for more than 600 years.

Other sites included in the list:

The Geoglyphs of the Konkan region of Maharashtra, Sri Veerabhadra Temple and Monolithic Bull (Nandi) at Lepakshi of Andhra Pradesh have made it to the Tentative list of UNESCO world heritage sites in 2022.

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