World Environment Day: Goa government to add 100 waterholes in forests, plant five lakh fruit trees

PANAJI: The Goa government on Saturday announced that it would create 100 new water bodies in its forests for wild animals as part of its measures to reduce human-animal conflict. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, in a video message released on the occasion of World Environment Day, also said the state forest department will plant five lakh fruit-bearing trees in the forests.

In a separate video message on Friday, he had said that the state government was working on reducing the incidents of human-animal conflict. A total of 250 youths have been trained as nature's guide to inform people about the rich biodiversity of forests, he said in his message on Saturday. "There are 50 'vaidya mitra', who harvest different herbs that are available in our forests," Sawant added.

The state government has been organising special events like bird festival, turtle Conversation event and others to create awareness about the forests. He said that eco-tourism has been promoted through bio-diversity parks while new nurseries have been set up at Harvalem (North Goa) and Dharbandora (South Goa).

The state government has paid a total of Rs 10 lakh compensation to farmers, who suffered losses due to human- animal conflict, he said.