Shillong: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday launched the GREEN Meghalaya Plus scheme in Tura in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills district.
GREEN Meghalaya Plus is part of the state government’s initiative – Payment for Eco System Services (PES), under which an incentive of up to Rs 20,000 per hectare per year will be disbursed to communities and individuals for the conservation of forest cover.
Green Meghalaya Plus aims to increase forest cover by an additional 50,000 hectares (500 square kilometers) through conservation efforts.
In the past over 3000 individuals/communities benefitted from the scheme and conserved more than 54,000 hectares of natural forest.
Speaking at the launch, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma expressed his gratitude to the beneficiaries from across Garo Hills, who attended the programme to celebrate the collective effort of conservation.
“In the last seven years, the government has initiated programmes that have benefitted our people, leading to accelerated growth and development. As a government, we are taking advantage of different funds from state, centre, and other external agencies for the growth of our state,” he said.
Citing that development of different sectors is important which will push economic growth, he said, “We have to be responsible towards the environment and work in harmony to balance nature and development.”
He said that the governments spend on afforestation projects but Meghalaya has taken the lead with the Green Meghalaya (PES) model to conserve the natural forest. “We are conserving the forest rather than waiting to carry out afforestation projects in the future,” he added.
In the last two years, the state government has spent over Rs 44 crore for the conservation of forest cover, and over Rs 200 crore has been earmarked for the conservation efforts.
He also urged the community to actively participate in a responsible manner to protect and conserve the forest cover.
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.
Speaking on the occasion, Education Minister Rakkam Sangma hoped that this scheme would further motivate and encourage people to protect and conserve forest cover.
Highlighting the abundant green cover of Garo Hills, the minister expressed confidence that the government’s initiative to provide financial assistance for conservation would benefit the local people.
During the programme, individuals and communities from different parts of Garo Hills expressed their gratitude to the government for the launch of the Green Meghalaya scheme, which has supported the community in the conservation of natural forests.
They also said that the assistance from the scheme has helped the community to use the fund for plantation to protect the catchment area.
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During the programme, the cheques were distributed to beneficiaries under the ‘CM Elevate, Focus and Payment for Ecosystem Services’.
