Forest for every village in Himachal?
HimVani
Shimla: Keeping in view the dramatic climatic changes in the state, the Himachal Pradesh forest department is planning to develop a model forest in each village. For this the department is studying the aforestation projects in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where village-level forests have been a success.
Currently, about 66.5% of the total geographic area in the state is covered by vegetation classified as forests. Though this figure seems impressive, the reality is that forest cover in the state has thinned out considerably over the years with human interference reaching out to almost all areas. According to sources in the department, water-retaining trees would be planted in an area covering about two hectares of land in each village. The responsibility of looking after these forests would also rest directly with the villagers.
The department had a budget of Rs 132 crore for 2006-2007, whereas a sum of Rs 72 crore was sanctioned through external sources for the same year.
Other projects
Rs 65-cr DFID assisted Forest Sector Reform Project covering 85 panchayats to promote sustainable livelihood amongst poor forest dependents.
Rs 365-crore World Bank aided Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project covering 602 panchayats.
Rs 160-cr Swan River Watershed Project aided by Japan Bank covering 60 panchayats.
World Bank aided Kandi project and Indo German Project.
Rs 33.60 crore Bio-diesel Project for aforestation of jathropha.
Related Posts
- NFRAC to hold public hearing on Forest Rights Act in Himachal
- 60 deodar sleepers recovered from a forest cave
- Forest minister seeks help from ‘right-holders’ to prevent forest fires
- Herbal dreams amongst forest nightmares
- Himachal to carry reforestation under Bio-carbon Revenue Project
- Himachal gets Rs 1,000 crore for roads
- Sustainable forest management and sustained livelihoods
The Author
This was written by nirvan on Wednesday, June 13, 2007, 16:00. nirvan has written 480 posts on this site.
Information
- Posted in Daily news, Environment
- This has _COMMENTS. Write your own comment now.
- on this
- User Ratings
(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
Loading ... 
Print This Post
are we ready for such participation?
Villagers regularly burn the forests to get more land for free it for cultivation.
It may be true to an extent, but largely people are becoming aware of the impending peril. So, hopefully, the project should work, but it would require mass participation at the grassroots level. The govt alone will not be able to do it unless NGOs and other social organisations come forward to implement it.