Make plan to improve green cover, Naveen to Forest dept

BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday asked officials of the forest department to prepare a concrete roadmap for improving the health of State’s forests and enhancing the living standard of people residing in the fringe villages.He also asked officials to prepare an integrated plan with a focused approach to reduce incidents of human-wildlife conflict, wildlife trafficking and reduce incidents of forest fires. 

Inaugurating a two-day conference of divisional forest officers (DFOs) at Lok Seva Bhawan, the Chief Minister said his government will continue its efforts to improve State’s green cover. “In spite of the difficult situation due to the pandemic, our forest cover has improved in the last two years as per India State of Forests report 2021,” he said.Naveen said the State added highest number of mangrove forests in the country and third highest in total increase of forest cover between 2019 and 2021. 

Stating that afforestation is a key component for providing employment to people in forest fringe villages, the Chief Minister advised forest officials to rope in Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs) for raising seedlings for plantation.He urged to carry the plantation programmes under the 5T initiative to bring transparency and timeliness and encourage team work among all stakeholders.

The CM also said that the forestry programmes of State government such as Joint Forest Management and the Odisha Forestry Sector Development Project have been successful in providing livelihoods and empowering the local communities.