Tripura gets external aid for forestry

The Centre has allowed external assistance only for Tripura in the forestry sector in Northeastern states with the success of joint forest management approach in the state.

State Forest Minister Jitendra Choudhury here today said aforestation projects with external assistance had been implemented in 11 states of the country - Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh. Mr Choudhury underlined that the latest forest survey in 2005 revealed that forest areas had increased by about 32 sq km in Tripura, 63 sq km in Meghalaya, 85 sq km In Arunachal Pradesh, 90 sq km in Assam, 101 sq km in Mizoram, 173 sq km in Manipur and 273 sq km in Nagaland in the past two years.

Sikkim was the only state in Northeast where forest cover had not increased between 2003 and 2005, Mr Choudhury said, adding the assessment of forest cover was done on the basis of satellite data.

The change in the forest cover has been analysed by comparing forest cover of the latest assessment with that of the preceding assessment and highest increase of forest land was recorded in Nagaland while Sikkim, Goa, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh recorded zero growth.

He stated that since Tripura was pursuing for external aid to promote livelihood management through forest resources, the Centre had allowed the state for foreign grant after a detail feasibility study.

Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) provided Rs 311 crore as soft loan for an ecological conservation project, work for which has started recently, while the state government was pursuing the China-based International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) for financial support.

Germany-based investment group GTZ has agreed to provide financial support of Rs 112 crore to Tripura for participatory natural resource management and value addition of forest produce, especially bamboo, rubber and medicinal plants as well as for socio-economic empowerment of rural people, Mr Choudhury pointed out.

According to report, besides financial assistance, the Germans would offer technical support and consultancy services to the state for successful implementation of Participatory Natural Resource Management in Tripura under Indo-German cooperation.

-- (UNI) -- 04CA1.xml

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