DIMAPUR — The World Bank has announced a financial
commitment of USD 225.5 million to enhance forest landscapes and promote forest
value chains across Tripura and Nagaland. This initiative, titled the Enhancing
Landscape and Ecosystem Management (ELEMENT) Project, targets over 400
villages, impacting the lives of more than 700,000 residents.
According to an update on the World Bank portal, forests,
covering nearly 1.5 million hectares, play a crucial role in the rural
economies of Tripura and Nagaland, providing livelihoods for significant tribal
populations. However, declining forest cover over the past decade has raised
concerns about biodiversity and the well-being of forest-dependent communities.
In this context, the ELEMENT Project will help conserve and
restore over 100,000 hectares of forest thus enhancing landscape-based value
chains for economic transformation while avoiding almost 435,000 tons of carbon
emissions per year. The project will also strengthen soil conservation and
improve water availability.
Quoting Auguste Tano Kouamé, the World Bank’s Country
Director for India, it said that “the project will contribute to leveraging
forests for private sector driven job creation in non-timber economic
activities, enhancing the carbon sink capacity of the forest, and ultimately
contributing to economic growth and social well-being in Tripura and Nagaland.”
The project will focus on developing markets for products
such as agarwood, bamboo, and honey, in partnership with the private sector. It
will also support the enhancement of national parks and protected areas and the
development of nature-based tourism, aiming to create 60,000 jobs for youth and
women through skills training and the promotion of forest-based
entrepreneurship.
The project will take an integrated and holistic landscape
approach on forest management, going beyond traditional forests to include
areas like grasslands, wetlands, and farmlands to maximise community benefits.
This will improve climate resilience of rural and forest-dependent communities
and increase their livelihoods, it added.
