HimachaL Pradesh Forest Department started HIMFES (Himachal Forest Ecosystem Services) Project which was launched by Rakesh Pathania Hon’ble Forest, Youth Services and Sports Minister Himachal Pradesh. He said that under the able Leadership of our Hon’ble Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur the state of Himachal Pradesh has witnessed unprecedented all-round development and felt proud to inform that state government has achieved exceptional progress in the core areas of health, education, infrastructure development and upliftment of poor in the State. He emphasized that the State has been a fore runner in implementing the policies and programmes that are relevant to protection of our environment and forests and help in mitigation of climate change. He also said that Forest Department of Himachal Pradesh is implementing several schemes like “Ek Buta Beti ke Naam, Van Samridhi Jan Samridhi, Samudaik Van Samvardhan Yojana and Vidyarthi Mitr Yojana” to achieve the target of bringing 30 percent of total geographical area under forest cover by 2030.
He said that Himachal Pradesh has a long history of implementing project in the Forest Sector with the coordination of bilateral and multilateral funding agencies. According to him the Externally Aided Project play a crucial in evolving approaches and models that address the current challenges faced in forest management. He said that current project will cover in two western Himalayan states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The cost of the project will be 3.85 million euro, which is equivalent to app Rs 33 crore. In Himachal Pradesh the project will be implemented in the selected panchayats of Kangra, Chamba and Mandi district.Pathania also launched the new website of Himachal Pradesh Forest Department, which is redesigned with the association of GiZ.
He said that through the current project sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystem Services will be implemented and the lessons learnt during previous project on managing the forests for ecosystem services will be shared with Uttarakhand. According to him the project will focus to engage with other line departments, Externally Aided Projects, private sector and Panchayati Raj Institutes to seek convergence of resources and capacities, with the objective of managing forests for water services.Additional Chief Secretary Forests Nisha Singh also addressed the gathering and said that this project will be able achieve its targets and hoped that learnings from the project will be implemented to help the rural community in the state.
Dr Savita Pr. CCF HoFF also addressed and said that Forest Department is running many schemes and because of that there has been an increase of 333.52 sq. km forest cover confirmed by the Indian State of Forest Cover 2019 report of Forest Survey of India in the preceding two years. She also informed about the different externally side projects being implemented in the state. She said that current project will be able to achieve its objectives in which capacity building programmes will be held for the communities of project area besides the development of models to rejuvenate water resources through the forest catchment of the project areas.
The meeting was also attended by Dr. Basu Sood, Advisor Planning, Ravinder Singh, Director, Indo German Biodiversity Programme, and Senior Officers of HP Forest Department and of GiZ along with Representatives of Panchayats of the area where the scheme will be implemented.
