The Supervision Mission of Agence Francaise De Developpement reviewing the progress of Assam Project on Forest and Biodiversity Conservation with Assam forest minister Parimal Suklabaidya and officials at Guwahati on Friday. Photo: Northeast Now

The Supervision Mission of Agence Francaise De Developpement reviewed the progress of Assam Project on Forest and Biodiversity Conservation (APFBC) being implemented with financial support from the government of France.

The Mission reviewed the progress in implementation of various activities with the Forest Department and various consultants.

The current Supervision Mission of the AFD comprising of Marine Karcher, (Country Manager), Emmanuel Fourmann (Project Director), Clemence Vidal De La Blache (Deputy Director) is presently in Assam to review the progress of the project and to take a view on further continuance of their association with the Forest Department of Assam in the form of a Phase-II of the Project. The Supervision Mission of AFD visits Assam every six months to take a stock of the progress of the project.

The Mission on Friday briefed the Assam Minister for Environment & Forests Parimal Suklabaidya, Assam chief secretary Alok Kumar, additional chief secretary Ravi Capoor, officials of the department of environment & forests about their assessment of the project and the plan for Phase-II of the APFBC.

During the Phase-I of the project many significant achievements have been a made, such as, involvement of 159 JFMCs and 57 EDCs (Total 216 JFMCs/EDCs) into participatory Forestry and Wildlife Conservation.

Over 5,900 persons including 4,360 women have been trained in different trades to enhance their skills for improved livelihoods. For better marketability of the products of JFMCs and EDCs market linkages have been developed and a Brand in the name of “Banashristi” has been launched with a central outlet at Assam State Zoo. Activities for Biodiversity Conservation have been carried out including construction of highlands at Kaziranga National Park to serve as Wildlife refuge during floods. In addition Capacity Building and Training of Frontline Forestry Personnel, infrastructure development and improvement of mobility have also been carried out on a big scale.

In the Phase-II of the project some of these activities would continue with a special focus on communities, climate resilience, gender equality and awareness building of the stakeholders about Biodiversity, Climate Change & Forest and Wildlife Conservation.