Tura, Oct 3: An ecological protection scheme of the Meghalaya Government, aptly called Green Meghalaya, has helped conserve forest cover the size of 54,000 hectares in just a short span of two years, announced Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma in Tura on Thursday.
Buoyant by the success story, the chief minister launched a second larger phase of the scheme- Green Meghalaya Plus that envisages to include additional expansion of 50,000 hectares (500 sqkm) of forest cover under conservation.
GREEN Meghalaya plus is part of state government’s initiative – Payment for EcoSystem Services (PES), under which an incentive of up to Rs 20,000 per hectare per year will be disbursed to communities and individuals for conservation of forest cover.
In the past over 3000 individuals/communities benefited from the scheme and conserved more than 54,000 hectares of natural forest.
Speaking at the launch that was also attended by Education Minister Rakkam Sangma, the chief minister acknowledged the positive role played by hundreds of beneficiaries who made a collective effort for conservation.
“In the last seven years, the government laid foundations and initiated programmes that benefited our people, and led to accelerated growth and development. There is a huge turnaround in the size of our economy today. As a government, we are taking advantage of different funds from state, centre and other external agencies for the growth of our state”, stated the chief minister.
Citing that development of different sectors are crucial to push economic growth, he said, “We have to be responsible towards the environment and work in harmony to balance nature and development”.
He added that although the government spends for afforestation projects, yet at the same time, Meghalaya has pioneered the Green Meghalaya (PES) model to conserve the natural forest. “We are conserving the forest, rather than wait to carry out afforestation projects in future”, he pointed out.
In the last two years, the state government spent over Rs 44 Crore for conservation of forest cover, with an additional Rs 200 plus Crore further earmarked for conservation efforts.
The chief minister called upon the community to actively participate in a responsible manner to protect and conserve the forest cover across the state.
The silent feature of this scheme (PES 2.0) is the increased area coverage for participation. Earlier the scheme required a minimum of 2 hectares of forest, the new guidelines reduced this to just 1 hectare, allowing smaller landowners and communities to take part.
Also speaking at the launch, Education Minister Rakkam Sangma expressed optimism that this scheme will further motivate and encourage people to protect and conserve forest cover. Paying tributes for the rich green coverage of Garo Hills, Rakkam Sangma said that it was a boon and the government’s initiative to provide financial assistance for conservation will surely be to the advantage of the people.
During the programme, individuals and communities from different parts of Garo Hills expressed their gratitude to the government for the launch of Green Meghalaya scheme, which has supported the community for conservation of natural forest.
They also said that the assistance from the scheme has helped the community to use the fund for plantation to protect the catchment area.
One of the beneficiaries at the event highlighted his testimonial, speaking of the initial confusion and apprehension in villages that the scheme envisaged parting with their land for the government. Later, after interactions and awareness drives on the part of the Government, the people were enlightened and motivated as the scheme provides assistance solely for conservation and to use the fund for further expansion and other community requirements.
During the programme, cheques to beneficiaries under CM Elevate, Focus and Payment for Ecosystem Services were distributed.
