Degraded have been restored through forest operations such as Assisted Natural Regeneration(ANR) and Artificial Regeneration (AR). Since most of the forests in the state belong to communities or individuals, such forest operations will be conducted by communities with support from Forest and Environment Department (FED) or the Forest Departments of the Autonomous District Councils (ADC).
REGISTRATION OF VRF/CF AND PREPARATION FOR RESOLUTION:
Justification and Objective:
More than 90 % of forest areas belong to communities or individuals in the state and such forest area is administered by the ADCs. According to the Garo Hills ADC (Forest) Act 1958, communities can register their community forest as a Village Reserve Forest (VRF) to the ADC. Although the Khasi Hills ADC and Jaintia Hills ADC do not have any specific schemes like VRF in Garo Hills ADC, communities can register their own forests to the ADCs as Community Forest (CF). Communities which have registered their own forests as either VRF or CF to the ADCs will be used as an implementation agency at village level for the implementation of restoration of degraded forests in the Project.
Since most of forests in the state belong to communities or individuals, such forest operations will be conducted by communities with support from FED or the Forest Departments ofthe ADCs. In this regard, an agency or committee for the implementation of forest restoration activities at village level is first constituted. The constituted agency or committeewill prepare a plan of forest management including use. In the following sections, organization of the agency or committee and preparation for the management plan will be first explained. Next, detail implementation plans of each type of restoration activity categorized by the drivers of forest degradation will be described.
Project Targets
| S.No | Afforestation Model | Method of Planting | Physical Target (Ha) | Characteristics of area to be taken up for treatment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Restoration of timber resources | Aided Natural Regeneration (ANR) with enrichment planting | 1,600 | Degraded forests where timber trees have been unsystematically removed (all 3 regions) |
| 2 | Restoration of Natural Vegetation | ANR | 7,700 | In degraded natural forest areas where rootstocks of useful species are present (all 3 regions) |
| 3 | Afforestation in barren land | Artificial Regeneration (AR) | 5,500 | In barren land/grassland (mostly in Khasi Hills but could be found in villages in other regions as well) |
| 4 | Restoration of shifting cultivation area | ANR | 4,450 | In Jhum fallow (mostly in Garo Hills, but could be present in villages in other regions as well) |
| 5 | Restoration of degraded lands due to quarrying | ANR with Mixed Plantation | 3,100 | In abandoned mine areas (all 3 regions) |
| 6 | Improvement of Corridors | ANR | 150 | In villages which are located in any one of the 5 Elephant corridors in Garo Hills |
| Total | 22,500 |
