Jorhat: The Forest Soil Health Cards (FSHC) for Assam were officially released on Tuesday in a formal event led by Sandeep Kumar, IFS, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Head of Forest Force (HoFF), Government of Assam.
The FSHCs, developed for all 33 territorial forest divisions across Assam, aim to address the gap in scientific data regarding the health of the state’s forest soils.
These cards will provide crucial recommendations for improving soil fertility, particularly in degraded or low-productivity forest areas, with the goal of enhancing forest productivity.
The formal handover of the FSHCs to Assam’s Forest Department marks a significant step towards addressing soil health challenges.
The development of these cards is part of an ongoing effort to improve soil management practices and promote the sustainable management of Assam’s forests.
ICFRE-RFRI, Jorhat, has taken the lead in preparing the Forest Soil Health Cards for Northeast India.
This initiative is linked to India’s commitment made during the 2015 UNFCCC conference in Paris, where the country pledged to create an additional carbon sink of 2.5–3 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent through afforestation by 2030.
While agricultural soils were included in the Soil Health Card Scheme launched by the Ministry of Agriculture, forest soils were not, prompting the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change to fund an All India Coordinated Research Project under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).
The project, implemented by ICFRE, aims to develop Forest Soil Health Cards for all 788 forest divisions across the country.
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The cards cover 12 key soil fertility parameters, which are critical to enhancing soil health and supporting India’s climate pledges.
The launch of the FSHCs in Assam is a crucial step towards improving forest management practices and ensuring the long-term health of the state’s forests, helping contribute to the broader national efforts to combat climate change and promote sustainable land use practices.
The event was held in the presence of Dr. Nitin Kulkarni, Director of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) – Rain Forest Research Institute (RFRI), Jorhat, and Dinesh K. Meena, Scientist-D and Principal Investigator of the All India Coordinated Research Project on Forest Soil Health Cards, along with various senior forest officers from the Assam Forest Department.
