Pench Turns 250 Hectares of Concrete Jungle into forest

NAGPUR: In a major eco-restoration and climate-adaptation project, supported under National Adaption Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC), Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) Maharashtra is working on restoring degraded 250 hectares of forest land, equivalent to 467 football fields, right in the heart of the tiger reserve.

The PTR has demolished over 40 concrete buildings and transported about 40,000 tonne debris to suitable sites last year. These quarters, belonging to irrigation department, were constructed in about 50 hectare of reserve forest land temporarily diverted for building a colony for officers and making labour camps for Totladoh dam project between 1974-94. However, encroachments and additional construction by labourers led to the degradation of over 250 hectares land due to various anthropogenic activities.

A visit to Pench on Saturday revealed that the 250-hectare land is now being resorted under the Rs22 crore project to its original condition. Soil and moisture conservation works such as brushwood dams, gabion structures, loose boulder structures, cement dams etc have been undertaken in a large area to enrich soil moisture and check erosion. About 1.5-hectare high-density plantation of 33 local/indigenous species has been taken up at the degraded site. Besides, meadow development has been done in over 50 hectares.

“This project is only of its kind anywhere in India involving multiple objectives such as eco-restoration inside a tiger reserve, creating green cover and improving soil quality with improved carbon sequestration contributing to India’s nationally determined contributions (NDCs) for climate targets, improving living standards of the forest-dwelling villagers, promote ecotourism and lastly creating a climate-sensitive, climate-resilient society. This project will act as a guiding force for others,” said Ravikiran Govekar, CCF, PTR.

The National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC) of Rs350 crore was created in 2014 with
the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) as the nodal ministry to support the climate adaption actions at the state level based on the priority areas in the State Action Plan for Climate Change (SAPCC). NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) has been designated as the implementing agency for such projects.

Deputy director (core) Prabhu Nath Shukla said, “The ongoing activities include livelihood generation in 8 villages with fruit tree plantation, poultry, various other activities identified by the beneficiaries etc. It will also include preparing education and awareness material on climate sensitivity for tourists, students, and villagers. We will go for eco-friendly tourism by pitching in for battery-operated eco-vehicles.”

ACF Atul Deokar said, “The project will improve canopy cover, carbon sink, additional carbon stock of about 11,000 tonne due to afforestation, improved soil indices, and water table and improved ecosystem services. It will also go in a long way to boost wildlife and offer better livelihood opportunities for villagers.”

Retired DFO GK Vashisht says, “Restoring the land is a herculean task. The routine habitat development activities are non-feasible as there were a large number of concrete buildings, extremely degrading the site and poor soil strata. We are now restoring it to its natural habitat through afforestation and allied activities.”

Source: ToI