TURA:
Chief minister Conrad K Sangma, on April 2, launched the pilot project on Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) for restoration of Ganol catchment worth Rs. 1.20 crore.
“Today, forests are degrading fast and water bodies are drying up and the people are not getting enough water supply. This project will benefit everyone in this regard,” said the chief minister, launching the project.
Payments for ecosystem services (PES), also known as payments for environmental services (or benefits), are incentives offered to farmers or landowners in exchange for managing their land to provide some sort of ecological service.
As we know that climate is changing and at the same time, livelihood of people is severely affected. The govt had to come up with a program to address all these concerns and the PES is tailor made for that. The PES will not limit itself to policies and actions but will also help the public financially and overcome the challenges that they might face in the future in regards to environment environmental issues,” the chief minister said.
The CEO of the MBDA, P Sampath Kumar, delivered the key-note address and the director of the Centre of Excellence, S Ashutosh, deliberated on the framework of PES.
Sangma also released the inception report and distributed cheques to 50 producer groups under the FOCUS program.