By Biplab Kr Dey
TURA, May 28: The heart and lungs of Garo Hills, the Nokrek Biosphere, faces an existential threat owing to rampant forest destruction that has led to the crucial buffer zone being denuded due to human activity. The alarming trend that has continued has been blamed on several factors including the need for human sustenance through the use of lands.
In an effort to understand what exactly it is that has been driving people to clearing forest lands for sustenance, a visit was paid to several of these crucial villages that fall under the buffer zone of the biosphere.
Payment for Ecological Services (PES)
The reason for mentioning PES is the fact that it is an essential system that could become a game changer. The system is very new and may require time to work in ways that will better the situation before things get worse.
PES is meant to support villages, communities, clans or individuals that commit to conserve and protect natural Forests for a minimum period of 30 years. The project is being undertaken by the Meghalaya Basin Management Agency in conjunction with other departments including the GHADC and Forest (Wildlife).
Villages, communities, clans or individuals that have a minimum of two hectares of natural forest are eligible under this scheme. An amount of up to Rs 15,000 per hectare can be given to villages for its maintenance.
What was startling to find was that villagers in these areas were not even aware of PES, something they could financially benefit from, especially since the area falls under an eco-sensitive zone.
Baladinggre
The quaint village of Baladinggre was the hardest to reach mainly due to the village not yet being connected through a proper road. The village has 25 households and has some of the densest forest cover still remaining in the Biosphere.
Most of the residents of the village are daily job workers who feed their families through the strength of their skin. MGNREGS works are few and far between because of the low population. The village falls under the Rongram C&RD Block.
“We have separated lands that can be used for farming and left the rest for the forest to grow. Many government representatives have met us over the years and encouraged us in saving trees for the future of our children and we have followed suit. In fact, not even one tree has been cut in our village over the past 5 years but then what is the use,” stated the Nokma of Baladinggre, Clason T Sangma.
Over the past five years, the villagers have been pressuring the Nokma to allow for more cultivation in their village as they have nothing else to fall back on. Further they added that despite them setting up a community reserve in their village, which has grown over the years, they have received very little support from the government.
“Every day there is pressure on us to allow for more land to be freed for farming and other activities. Till now we have resisted but with land being the only resource that we have, we don’t know how much longer we can resist without any form of economic support,” added the Nokma.
The villagers also informed that government support for their village was unheard of despite the importance of conservation and their own efforts and preserving forests for posterity.
“We have too few numbers to get work under MGNREGS as we have only 23 households. Only a few of us have benefited from low cost houses (PMAY) and you can see the state of the road connecting our village to understand where we stand,” said the Nokma, while adding that he never heard of PES or anything like it.
Daribokgre
The story of one of the biggest villages in the area, Daribokgre has a similar story to that of Baladinggre. The village, which is strategically close to the core area of the Nokrek Reserve, is extremely important for the conservation of the Biosphere but is also one of the most impacted areas for deforestation.
Of late, the place, which has always had one of the best weathers in the Garo Hills region, has become a tourist destination with thousands flocking to the village to relax and take in the view of the Biosphere.
The village comprises close to 900 hectares of land of which the villagers have kept close to 200 hectares as community reserves. The rest, however, is open for farming activities as well as plantations.
Daribokgre, along with the rest of the Nokrek biosphere, is known for its oranges and as such lands have been cleared for allowing such plantations to come up. While there is no real estimate on the total amount of land used for such plantations, the number could go up to thousands of hectares in the entire biosphere.
“The tourist footfall due to the recently opened viewpoint is only benefitting a few. In the wake of rising costs and the studies of our children, I have allowed 700 acres to be used for cultivation, leaving the rest as our community forest,” informed Nokma Bakking Ch Marak.
Interestingly, the community forest borders the core zone of the Reserve and provides extra cover in conservation efforts. They too are not aware of any scheme that could help them in conserving their forests though his forest was registered with the GHADC.
“There is not one NGO, civil society organisations or government departments that have not approached us to ask us to not cut trees but what is the alternative? How will my people survive without a working alternative to clearing lands for farming? We too want to save our forest lands but without a viable alternative, finances will determine where we go from here,” felt Bakking.
The Nokma added that despite them actually leaving 200 hectares as community reserve, last year only an amount of close to Rs 4,000 was provided for its upkeep.
Chandigre
The village of Chandigre falls close to foothills of the Biosphere but is also a part of the buffer zone of the Biosphere. It has more than 50 households and has a community reserve of 47 hectares. Residents of the area have also benefited from government schemes including PMAY, MGNREGS as well as interventions from the state government. The numbers, however, are not much to write home about.
“There is pressure on us to allow farming activities as most of us are daily wage earners or labourers. A lot of us depend on MGNREGS. We also have a reserve that we keep free from any interventions,” informed the Chandigre nokma, Capston Marak.
A visit to all these places showed that the pressure of economic activity was a major concern amongst all residents.
Dura Kalakgre
The village, which is close to the core zone of the Biosphere, has close to 70 households that depend primarily on farming activities.
The village has recently come into the glare after more than two hillocks of forests were cleared to allow for farming activity to take place, close to the source of the Ganol River. However, most of the other parts of the village still have decent forest cover.
Kalakgre is among the few villages that have registered their community forests to benefit from ‘Payment for Ecological Services’ (PES) under the GHADC and the MBMA. However, Nokma was unhappy with what happened after.
“We provided more than 52 hectares of land for the reserve. However, when they mapped the entire thing, they only showed 28 hectares. We were supposed to be given money and development for our efforts but we only got Rs 57,000 to maintain our forest. This did not even cover the maintenance costs,” said the Nokma.
Nearby Sasatgre is even worse with more than 87 hectares of land being registered with the Council and PES as community reserve and not a paisa being paid for its upkeep.
“You can’t blame them for everything that is happening. Most of them don’t even know if there are alternatives. Only now after water levels are at their lowest are people really concerned in protecting Nokrek. Where was this concern earlier? They are not the only ones responsible for what has happened,” felt social activist Jaynie Sangma.
“Economics is paramount for all these people in the Biosphere. Without an alternative, they will have no other option than to use their lands and if this continues, it may just make things worse,” she added after multiple visits to these places.