Nagaland holds stakeholder consultation on draft Community Conserved Areas Policy to strengthen community-led conservation.
DIMAPUR — A one-day stakeholder consultation on the draft Nagaland Community Conserved Areas (CCA) Policy was held at Hotel Japfu, Kohima, on Thursday, bringing together representatives of various departments of the Nagaland government, community organisations and conservation groups to deliberate on the proposed policy framework.
Principal Secretary, Department of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (DEFCC) and Chairman of the Nagaland State Biodiversity Board (NSBB), Y Kikheto Sema, stressed the need for a structured policy to sustain community-led conservation initiatives in the state.
Addressing the inaugural session as the special guest, Sema urged stakeholders to place community interests at the centre of the policy and ensure that adequate resources are mobilised to sustain conservation initiatives, the NSBB stated in a press release.
PCCF and Head of Forest Force (HoFF), Nagaland, Vedpal Singh, called for technical orientation of community conservation initiatives, particularly in profiling natural resources and strengthening their management.
Also read: Forest official urges Nagas to use Article 371(A) responsibly
As the guest of honour, Singh also suggested refining the draft policy to make it more practical and enable the government to facilitate the recognition and management of community conserved areas.
The draft policy proposes criteria for recognition of CCAs, governance and management mechanisms, monitoring, financial and technical support, coordination among neighbouring CCAs and landscape-level conservation, among other measures.
It also proposes an inclusive governance structure involving village councils, CCA management committees, women, youth, elders, landowners and other village institutions.
The policy provides for formal recognition and registration of CCAs, community-led monitoring, landscape-level coordination and financial and technical support.
The need for a policy framework for CCAs in Nagaland has been discussed at various forums over the years.
The process gained further momentum following a workshop organised by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Kohima in 2024, the release stated.
Subsequently, the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), in association with the NSBB, facilitated consultations towards developing a CCA policy for Nagaland.
Four zonal-level and one landscape-level consultation meetings were held to gather perspectives, opinions and recommendations from communities and other stakeholders.
The current draft has been prepared based on these consultations and multiple rounds of stakeholder engagement, while also drawing on recommendations and lessons from earlier draft policy processes undertaken in 2016 and 2023.
Supongnukshi Ao, APCCF (T), delivered the keynote address at the inaugural programme, which was chaired by Sidramappa M Chalkapure, Chief Conservator of Forests and Member Secretary, NSBB.
The technical sessions were moderated by Sanjay Sharma, General Manager, FES; Sunpreet Kaur, Programme Lead, The Nature Conservancy Centre (TNCC); Dr Pia Sethi, Consultant, FES; and Chenibemo Odyuo, Senior Project Manager, FES.
The consultation was coordinated by the NSBB in partnership with FES and the Nagaland Community Conserved Areas Forum (NCCAF). ICIMOD and TNCC were also involved in drafting and deliberations on the State policy on CCAs.