By HH Mohrmen
In the fifty years of the state’s existence the initiation of the Basin platform in the government’s function is a very important intervention. The institution of what is now called the Meghalaya Basin Management Agency is perhaps one of the game-changing interventions ever made by the government. In its efforts to serve the people of the State Basin Agency apart from achieving its target, has also accomplished two more targets. It helps create convergence amongst government departments and has become a platform for landing of funds from national and international, governmental and even non-governmental agencies.
Inter-departmental convergence
Earlier departments in the State Government worked in silos with no scope for the different department to converge. For example though the work undertaken by the Irrigation and the Agriculture departments are linked and the objective is to serve the farmers of the state, but there were no meeting points between the two. Similarly Soil Conservation, Forest and even Agriculture departments do not touch-base despite the fact that the work they execute are interlinked. Unfortunately there were times when departments were not even on talking terms with each other. The coming of Basin Agencies in the picture changed the scenario and with the DC as the Chairperson of the District Basin Development Units at the helm of power, convergence amongst the different departments started happening.
Natural Resources Management in the state
Forest is the major part of the natural resources in the State and of the total area under forest cover only about 4 percent of the forests in Meghalaya are under the State Forest Department. The remaining 96 percent of forests is under the purview of the different Autonomous District Councils in the state. As per the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and also the prevailing land tenure system in the state much of the land in the different regions of the State are either owned by the different clans, the community namely the dorbar shnong, the raid and the eleka, and a considerable part of the forest is now under individual ownership.
Natural Resources Management challenges faced by the ADCs
The Autonomous District Councils are already armed with the different Laws with regard to NRM, like for instance the United Khasi-Jaintia Hills Autonomous District (Management & Control of Forest) Act, 1958, the United Khasi-Jaintia Hills Autonomous District (Management& Control of Forest) Rules 1960 and the United Khasi Jaintia Hills District Fisheries Act. But the important question is how effective these laws are in the management of natural resources in the state. The first challenge is the fact that the existing laws recognise only trees and revenues from the trees as natural resources while in the context of the current system of management of natural resources, not only forests but water which includes rivers, lakes and ponds are also considered as natural resources. In fact in the modern context, forest includes the entire ecosystem in and around it.
The other point to be noted is that the laws also have provisions for registration of forests with the respective District Councils. But the pertinent question is how many forests have been registered with the different ADCs? The point is that in spite of the presence of the existing laws, conversion of forest land to non-forest land, community forests to private forests and conversion of Pata Hali to Land Holding Certificates happen every day. This opens a floodgate of opportunities for encroachment into agricultural land and subsequently the construction of human settlement on the banks of the river. As per the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, the management and control of rivers are also under the purview of the ADCs. Hence the ADCs have a very important role to play in protecting the rivers.
Earlier a baseline study conducted by Community-Led Landscape Management Project (CLLMP) has also found that penal mechanisms under the present ADC laws are ineffective. The staff of the Forest Department of the ADCs and even the chief forest officers (CFO) of the District Council, literarily have no powers to punish violators and forest offenders. Hence in the present scenario there is an urgent need to review the existing District Council laws regarding natural resources management (NRM). There is need to empower and involve the ADCs in natural resource management and the participation of the ADCs is vital if the state is to effectively manage its natural resource.
CLLMP in a nutshell
The Community-led Landscape Management Project (CLLMP) is a project of the Government of Meghalaya which is supported by the World Bank. As the name suggests the project aims at strengthening community-led participation in natural resource management and it is implemented in 400 highly degraded villages in the state. CLLMP has conducted a baseline study which was completed in 2020.
The way forward
NRM which will ultimately influence climate change and global warming is not only a local issue but a state, national and global issue. It is an issue that needs to be dealt with very carefully at all levels and more importantly it should start at the grassroots level. To manage the region’s natural resources, local participation is mandatory and it is a matter that needs to be looked into very deeply at the district or even at the village level.
Effective management of natural resource can only happen if the agencies at the grass roots level are involved and actively participate in the different activities. It is based on the fact that agencies at the grassroots level are integral to natural resources management that CLLMP in collaboration with the Jañtia Hills Autonomous District Council Jowai organised a consultative meeting with the community heads which include the Daloi, the President of the Synjuk ki Waheh Chnong from the various parts of both East and West Jañtia Hills District and civil society leaders.
The objective of the consultative meeting is to develop forest management guidelines for the ADCs, to develop forest management for villages in Meghalaya, legal and institution aspects of forestry and natural resource management plan for the villages of Meghalaya and integrate in the scope of CLLMP.
JHADC and its approach to NRM
It is also heartening to see the active participation of the JHADC in the meeting in which Lasky Rymbai the Deputy CEM was present in the entire meeting. The Deputy CEM even took part in the group discussion with the Daloi and the Waheh Chnong coming from different parts of the twin districts. In his opening remarks the Deputy CEM of the Executive Committee said that they accept with humility the onerous responsibility to work with CLLMP to conserve biodiversity and manage natural resources in the district.
In the fact the present Executive Committee of the Jañtia Hills Autonomous District Council needs to be congratulated for one of its recent achievements. It can be said that the current EC is very progressive because it is the only ADC in the entire North East which has adopted its own Forest Policy known as Jañtia Hills Autonomous District Council Forest Policy 2020. After the policy was adopted the need of the hour was to come up with legal framework to put the policy into operation.
Although the goal is to initiate collaboration with the different ADCs and consultative meetings were already held with both the Khasi Hills and Garo Hills Autonomous District Councils, Jañtia ADC is natural candidate for pilot testing the collaboration for the very fact that they are much ahead than the other ADCs in the north east region of the country. JHADC must be a natural candidate for piloting the NRM strategy because it already has its own forest policy.
Optimistic Approach
To take the task ahead CLLMP has already constituted Village Natural Resource Management Committees (VNRMCs) in the four hundred villages with the objective of helping to improve natural resources management in these 400 hundred villages. This is a positive approach of the NRM which is also pragmatic and forward looking. The approach is also looking at providing alternative livelihoods to the affected members of the villages. CLLMP natural resource management approach is looking at convergence not only with State Government departments but with the ADCs too. This is perhaps the first time ever such a convergence is happening. The involvement of the ADCs is a step forward in attempting to make NRM effective in the state of Meghalaya.
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