Dimapur, July 28 (MExN): An awareness programme for members of the Village Forest Committees (VFCs) under the aegis of the Forest Development Agency (FDA), Dimapur, was conducted at the conference hall of the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Dimapur, on Tuesday. Members from 46 villages in and around Dimapur where FDA projects have been implemented attended the programme.
Forest Ranger N Kughaho Sema briefed the members present on the various activities undertaken by the FDA Dimapur. This was followed by a general discussion in which representatives from the various VFCs shared their views on the projects implemented in their respective villages.
DFO Dimapur, Kocha Meyase, who is also the chief executive officer of the FDA Dimapur, informed that the main objective the Agency is to raise awareness on forest development activities for the community at the village level. “FDA activities are to involve the community as a whole in afforestation activities in their respective villages or community level,” said the DFO. He said that so far 121 FDA projects in as many villages in Dimapur have been implemented through the formation of VFCs or Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMC).
FDA projects are sponsored by the National Afforestation & Eco-development Board (NAEB) and the Ministry of Environment & Forests. Under the FDA, plantation projects of various kinds are implemented with funding from the Agency through the active participation of villagers at the community level. In order to implement the activities, village level committees called ‘Village Forest Committees’, or Joint Forest Management Committees, are constituted by the concerned government officials and representatives of the members of the land-owning community whose appointment/nomination is made with the consent of the village councils concerned.
Some of the main objectives of the VFC or JFMC are the creation and management of plantations, controlling of forests fires, creating of forest-based economy for the people, encouraging of ‘tree farming’, and conservation of biodiversity through people’s action.
The DFO added that returns from projects implemented under FDA will start coming by the 5th or 6th year if plantations are carried out scientifically. FDA Dimapur was initiated in the year 2002. Since then, 121 villages under DFO Dimapur have benefited from its projects, in phases.
