Involve women in forest management

  • 31/05/2008

  • Hindu (New Delhi)

An area of over 19,600 hectares has been brought under plantation in Haryana at a cost of Rs.43 crore during the Tenth Five Year Plan with the help of 20 Forest Development Agencies (FDAs). This was revealed at a day-long workshop on implementation of National Afforestation Programme (NAP) held at Pinjore near here on Saturday where emphasis was laid on active involvement of women in joint management of forests. The workshop was organised under the aegis of the Haryana Forest Department and Agriculture Finance Corporation. It was sponsored by the National Afforestation and Eco-development Board. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests J. K. Rawat in his keynote address said that the National Forest Policy of 1988 envisaged 33 per cent forest and tree cover. To achieve this goal, about 30-35 million hectares of plantation was needed and out of this only five million hectares could be done in forest areas. This implied that areas outside forests must be explored for plantations.