Projects will help augment water and fodder in forest areas and enrich efficiency of regeneration of forests, said Environment, Forest and Climate Change minister Prakash Javadekar
TFM Desk
Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar in a virtual event on Saturday released the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of LiDAR based survey of forest areas in ten states — Assam, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland, and Tripura.
Javadekar informed that the project which was awarded to WAPCOS, a PSU under the aegis of Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India is a first of its kind and a unique experiment using LiDAR technology which will help augment water and fodder in jungles areas thereby reducing human-animal conflict, help in groundwater recharge, help local communities, according to PIB.
He also asked state forest departments to use CAMPA funds towards implementation of these projects in earnest and in accordance with the “Ridge to Valley” approach of watershed management.
WAPCOS has prepared these DPR’s using LiDAR technology in which the 3-D (three dimensional) DEM (Digital Elevation Model), imagery and layers of the project areas are used for recommending different types of soil and water conservation structures such as Anicut, Gabion, Gully Plug, Mini percolation tank, Percolation Tank, Field bund, Sunken pond, Farm pond etc. These structures will help in catching the rain water and prevent stream runoff, which will help in recharging of groundwater, the PIB release added.
WAPCOS with the participation of state forest departments identified one major ridge inside a forest block in these states with average area of 10,000 ha selected in each state for preparation of Detailed Project Reports for planning and identifying locations and structures for construction of appropriate and feasible micro soil and water conservation structures consistent with site specific geography, topography and soil characteristics.
States and UTs identified one major ridge inside a forest block with the criteria that area selected should have average rainfall of the state, and the area requires assisted natural generation which means the density of forests should be less than 0.4 or below, but should have reasonable potential to regenerate with the ANR interventions.
The project was awarded to WAPCOS in July 2020 at a cost of Rs.18.38 Crore for implementation in 26 states over 2,61,897 hectare. The DPR’s for the remaining 16 states will also be released shortly, it added.