Hyderabad/Brazil: International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) is the global network of policymakers, professionals, scientists and organizations in over 110 countries with headquarters at Vienna, Austria. Its mission is to advance research excellence and knowledge sharing and to foster the development of science-based solutions to forest-related challenges for the benefit of forests and people worldwide.
XXV World Congress of International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) is being held at Curitiba, Brazil from 29th September to 5th October 2019.
“Forest Landscape Restoration Implementation – Progress on the Ground” a side event has been organised by IUFRO to showcase the observations and lessons learnt in Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) works from selected Forest Landscapes of nine Bonn Challenge countries; Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, India, Mongolia & Bangladesh.
In the Indian context, snapshot analysis of Forest Landscape Restoration activities done in “Gajwel – Mulug” Landscape of Siddipet District, Telangana was presented by Lokesh Jayaswal IFS, Addl. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (CAMPA) who is looking after rejuvenation of degraded forests in Telangana State for last three years.
In the event, a video on Forest Landscape Restoration activities and e – poster were shown followed by question/answer session. IUFRO had identified the strong points for each country which were responsible for the success of Forest Landscape Restoration work in the identified landscape.
In the context of Telangana state, the strong political will and leadership of the democratically elected head of the state i.e. Chief Minister of Telangana K. Chandrasekhar Rao were highlighted.
It was informed how the political, economic and social injustices led to the formation of Telangana, the youngest state in India and how the forests in Telangana were degraded over a period including due to Naxalite activities. Soon after taking over charge of the state on June 2014, the vision of Chief Minister of Telangana to have economic development of the state with environmental concern, has resulted in a strong policy decision of increasing forest & tree cover to 33% of geographical area of the state as a State flagship programme “Telangana Ku HarithaHaaram”.
It was emphasized that the strong political will & leadership have resulted into strong institutional arrangements, total participation of all stakeholders, adequate financial resources, better planning, implementation & monitoring, publicity, awareness & capacity building of all stakeholders, incentivization, motivation and ownership of the programme by one and all. It was pointed out that strong political support has made all the difference in the context of Telangana for better implementation of Forest Landscape Restoration activities in the state.
The strong political will and leadership of the Chief Minister of Telangana and the massive Forest Landscape Restoration activities taken in the Telangana state of India were very much appreciated by the audience of different countries present.
Authored by Mohammed Hussain, mohammedhussain.reporter@gmail.com Twitter: @writetohussain