The hills are a refuge. ​

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Densely forested, vertiginous and almost impassable, Highlands make up over 2.5 million square kilometres of Zomia. This sea of green however, is under threat. The rainforest of continental Southeast Asia was once the largest in the world. Today, it is fractured and much reduced yet the hills retain much of their forest cover for now, but this is fast changing as roads are constructed and ancient ecosystems are destroyed to make way for palm plantations and mining, logging interest. 

 

Due to the isolated nature of settlements in Highland regions, there is a still a large amount of diversity within the cannabis genome to be found in the highland regions of Zomia. Farmers living here have historically had sporadic interaction with the cultures that brought cannabis to the subcontinent. Their way of life and civilisation has endured the rise and fall of every single empire which sought to project influence into the hills until now. 

 

The lack of centralised control over  Highland society in general and in particular agriculture (control of practices and taxation) is what defines Zomian people in a way and what has led to individual communities and growers to pursue the varieties best suited to each and every valley and ridge of the landscape, resulting in a dizzying array of local strains. 

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Most importantly, the hills serve as a refuge for peoples escaping centralised government, slavery and taxation. The crops that these people brought with them, also found a home in the hills. Lying there undisturbed until now, we have identified relic populations of varieties long extinct in the lowlands. 

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Join us as we explore the Zomia Highlands!

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